Staff Profiles

Ricki Smith, MEd, MA Hons

Mr Ricki Smith graduated from the University of Aberdeen with an MA (Hons) in English and History before gaining a PGCE in Secondary English from the University of Cambridge. In 2013 he completed an MEd in Educational Leadership.

His teaching career began at Highfield Prep School, before he moved to Framlingham College and Gravesend Grammar School for Girls, where he taught English. In 2004, he moved to Headington School to become Head of Sixth Form, before being appointed Deputy Head Pastoral in 2008. Mr Smith joined St Gabriel’s as Principal in September 2016.

Angela Chapman, BA Hons, PGCE

Prior to joining St Gabriel’s in January 2017, Mrs Angela Chapman was Deputy Head at Badminton School, Bristol, a girls’ boarding school. She has 20 years’ experience in girls’ education in Bristol. Mrs Chapman has also taught in a London boys’ school and a co-educational boarding school. She is absolutely committed to ensuring a holistic offering and the best educational outcome for every pupil.

Peter Dove, BA Hons, PGCE

Mr Peter Dove became Head of the Junior School in 2009 and is a full member of the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS). After a successful period working in The City, Mr Dove trained as a primary school teacher at Roehampton before embarking on a career which led him to being appointed Deputy Head of a local primary school. Since joining St Gabriel's, Mr Dove has managed the integration of the old Pre-Prep Department, the development of Sandleford Nursery and the transition to a co-educational Junior School. Peter spends most of his weekends on the touchline of local football pitches watching his own children play.

Amelia Smith, BEd Hons, QTS

Miss Amelia Smith graduated from Leeds University and joined St Gabriel's in 1997. She was appointed Deputy Head of the Junior School in 2014. She is also the Junior School’s Challenge and Extension Co-ordinator.

Anna Chicken, BA Hons, PGCE

Mrs Anna Chicken read Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Oxford before completing a PGCE in Middle Years Mathematics at the University of Bath. Mrs Chicken has taught Mathematics at St Gabriel’s for 12 years and before being appointed Director of Curriculum she was the school’s Academic Data Manager. She is also the Senior School’s Challenge and Extension Co-ordinator. In September 2020 Mrs Anna Chicken became Director of Studies.

Hannah Trevis, BSocSc Hons, PGCE

Mrs Hannah Trevis read Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester before completing a PGCE in Religious Studies at the University of Winchester. Mrs Trevis taught in a co-educational grammar school, before joining St Gabriel’s in 2013 as Head of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics. In 2014 she was appointed Head of Lower School before taking up her current role in May 2016 as Director of Teaching and Learning. In September 2020 Mrs Trevis became Head of Sixth Form following on from Clare Reseigh.

Emma Hammons, LLB Hons, PGCE

Mrs Emma Hammons read Law and Politics at Keele University before completing a PGCE in Social Science with History at the UCL Institute of Education. She was previously Head of Politics at a large state school in south London, where she held a range of pastoral roles before becoming part of the Sixth Form leadership team. Mrs Hammons joined St Gabriel's in 2013 and has been Head of Upper School (Years 9-11) since May 2016.

Rebecca Wright, BSc Hons, PGCE

Mrs Becky Wright joined St Gabriel's in 2003 and teaches PE in the Senior School. Prior to being appointed Head of Lower School (Years 7 & 8) in 2016, Mrs Wright was Head of Upper School.

Vicci Vaughan, BSc Hons, QTS

Mrs Vicci Vaughan joined St Gabriel’s in September 2009 after several years teaching Mathematics in local schools. Originally trained as a Credit Manager, she has fulfilled both pastoral and data management roles with the Senior Leadership Team. Mrs Vaughan currently coordinates the school’s compliance and educational visits as well as teaching Mathematics.

Clare Lawrence, BA Ed Hons, QTS

Mrs Clare Lawrence started her teaching career at a First School in Poole, Dorset, where she taught pupils in Year 2 and Year 3, before joining St Gabriel's in 1999 as a Reception Teacher. For the last 19 years, Mrs Lawrence has specialised in Early Years education and was involved in the development of Sandleford, our EYFS nursery provision, where she works alongside the Nursery Manager and Deputy in ensuring the delivery of high quality EYFS education experiences for all of our younger children. Mrs Lawrence's time is split between managing the Sandleford curriculum and teaching in the Junior School. Mrs Lawrence is also DDSL (Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) with responsibility for pupils in the Junior School.

Katie Noonan, BA Hons, EYTS

After 14 years working at a private day nursery in Newbury, Mrs Katie Noonan joined St Gabriel’s as our Sandleford Manager and EYFS Designated Safeguarding Lead in June 2014. Mrs Noonan achieved her NNEB in 2000 followed by her Management Level 3 and assessors qualifications. Mrs Noonan also has a degree in Supporting Children’s Development and Learning and obtained her Early Years Teaching Status. From a very young age Mrs Noonan wanted to work with children and she feels it is much more than just a job; she is always looking for ways to improve the setting and experiences offered to the children in our care in order to help them reach their full potential.

Mrs Michelle Bullock, NVQ Level 3

Mrs Michelle Bullock’s career has been devoted to working within the education sector supporting the needs of pupils to help them achieve their best possible outcome. She joined St Gabriel’s in 2007, working alongside the Individual needs team before being moving across to be the School Matron; she also successfully completed her counselling qualification at this time.

In September 2014, when St Gabriel’s opened Sandleford Nursery, Michelle’s career took a new direction. She is now Sandleford’s Deputy Manager, assisting with the daily running of the nursery but still having the opportunity to share her skills, warm heart and caring nature with the youngest members of our school community.

Interview with Head of Geography, Mrs Rebecca Harvey, BSc Hons, PGCE shared in a recent digital newsletter.

Can you tell us a little about your education?
I grew up locally and attended Inhurst House School. I have very fond memories of my junior school and think this is where my love of learning started. As many pupils know, I am a member of the alumnae and spent seven happy years in the Senior School at St Gabriel's. I was proud to be House Captain of Chad and loved organising the younger pupils for House events such as netball tournaments, the swimming gala, sports day, debating and music. Perhaps this is where the skills for my future career started to emerge! After sixth form I went straight to Cardiff University to read Environmental Geoscience and following graduation I completed my PGCE at the University of Gloucestershire.

How did your interest in Geography develop?
I have always had a natural interest in the world around me and have enjoyed geography since school. I am fascinated by the connections between humans and the physical world. I love to travel, have new experiences and explore interesting places.

Why did you choose a career in teaching?
Following university, I knew I wanted to pursue a career with a geography focus but was unsure of which direction to take. Before taking a year out to travel, I decided to complete my PGCE as it would enable me to work on my return to the UK. Little did I know how much I would enjoy teaching and 14 years later I am still doing the best job.

Can you tell us about students, do they impress and/or challenge you?
I often get asked this question by students, ‘Don’t you get bored teaching the same thing?’

The answer is always no and it’s because of them, they ask interesting questions and challenge me to think about things in different ways. No lesson is ever the same and I love the enthusiasm and energy they bring with them.

What are the key skills students learn in Geography?
Geography enables students to develop a variety of skills both subject specific and more general. Fieldwork allows students to plan and carry out their own investigations in which they must manage their time effectively, create a hypothesis to test, collect data and analyse their findings. Students also learn to interpret a wide range of maps, graphs and statistical data.

Where have students gone on to study Geography at university?
Since I joined St Gabriel’s three years ago, a number of pupils have gone on to read Geography at universities including Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham and Aberystwyth.

What careers can Geography typically lead to?
Geography can lead into a wide range of careers in areas such as hazard management, the environment, policy and government, travel and tourism and international charities.

Is there a key message you want to share with students interested in pursuing Geography?
As Michael Palin said, “Geography illustrates the past, explains the present and prepares us for the future … what could be more important than that?”

Interview with Head of Art, Mr Paul Spurrett, BA Hons, PGCE

Can you tell us a little about your education?
I went to an all boys state school and co-educational Sixth Form in Didcot, Oxfordshire. After a year out, I studied for my degree in Graphic Design in Reading.

How did your interest in art develop?
I always found it easy to pick up a pencil and draw or colour things. My mum was good at drawing, so perhaps the gene passed down from there. I used to play a game called Warhammer when I was younger, however, I was more interested in painting the intricate models rather than playing the actual game!

Do you think anyone can learn to be an artist or are you born with a natural talent?
I think art is very similar to sport. You have to practise in order to become better and you do not need to be good at every type to be considered a skilled person. Having natural talent can help things develop a lot easier but, with the right mindset, anyone is able to learn new skills.

What artists do you find inspirational?
Joseph Beuys had the guile to use art to convince people that he was a completely different person. That was pretty cool. I love Graphic Design (obviously), installation art, abstract expressionism and portraiture. I always find it quite remarkable how a face can be presented in so many different ways. My favourite sculpture is 'Cloudgate' by Anish Kapoor. I also love any art that is used to put a smile on people's faces or mocks the corrupt things in this world. We all need a laugh sometimes!

Do your current A level / GCSE students have a particular interest in a specific area?
A lot of our GCSE artists are keen to create a portraiture project, overall they are all brilliant at coming up with their own projects (Photography and Textiles, too). We have students exploring all kinds of interesting themes such as Black History, Skateboarding, Conspiracy Theories, Beauty, Feminism, Pollution, World Culture, Fantasy, Surrealism etc. Come exhibition time, every student's work looks amazing.

Why did you choose a career in teaching?
I had an end of degree exhibition at New Designers in London which started on the Wednesday. It was an opportunity, as Graphic Designers, to showcase our portfolio and encourage business and clients to employ us. The Thursday morning was 7 July and I was due to catch the Kings Cross underground train about an hour after it was hit by a terrorist bomb attack. After the rest of the atrocities had happened that day, London was like a ghost town for a week and so nobody came to the exhibition. I decided to go snowboarding and gained my instructor qualifications. A knee injury kept me back in the UK after the second season and I really enjoyed the teaching element of the instructor programme. So, I put my degree to good use and went to study for my PGCE at Oxford Brookes University.

Have any of your students, gone on to university or made a career out of art?
Yes, I have had a few students who continued their path within the creative industries. Illustrators, artists, photographers and graphic designers. It is really lovely to see how much they have flourished and developed.

What do you think are the benefits for students looking to study art?
Creative industries bring in over one hundred billion pounds worth of income to the UK every year. The clothes you wear, cars you want to drive, TV shows you watch, advertisements you see, magazines you read, they have been created by people with artistic influences. The lateral thinking skills you learn are different to traditional subjects and it is a great way to express yourself.

Is there a key message you want to share with pupils interested in pursuing art?
Only pursue it if you enjoy it. Do not force something you do not want to do. Do not negatively compare yourself to others. Set your own goals. Be positive. Express yourself. Be open minded to trying new things.

Mrs Verity Brazendale joined St Gabriel's as Head of Senior School Physical Education & Games in September 2019. Mrs Brazendale spent 16 years teaching PE in a girls grammar school in Kent and prior to that she taught in Sydney, Australia. She hails from this area and has represented Newbury and Berkshire in Athletics and Netball. Her passion for championing women in sport and celebrating individual achievement is already evident.

Mrs Jennifer Wellard-Hughes, BA Hons, PGCE, QTS

Mrs Jennifer Wellard-Hughes, who joined St Gabriel's in September 2019, has always loved reading; she was a huge Harry Potter fan as a child and went on to study English at the University of Leicester. She graduated with a first and was awarded the Dr Henry Wallace Prize for the final year English student with the highest average across their second and third year. Her dissertation focused on The Influence of Medieval Piety on John Donne's 'Divine Poems'. She also has a passion for exploring contemporary women’s writing and feminist literary theory.

I love the way that through reading you can step out of everyday experience and into different lives, places, times and even worlds! As a teacher, I also enjoy the vast range of different opinions that students can bring to a text or a topic, there is always something to discuss or debate!

How did your interest in science develop?
When I was a little girl, my big brother, Simon, used to order butterfly eggs and we would watch them hatch into caterpillars, feed them on particular leaves and then metamorphose into delicate little creatures. We also kept tropical fish and used binoculars to spot shy birds in the woods. My mother was a keen gardener and would walk me around the garden naming species and collecting seeds. So my interest in science came from the habitats around me and the interests of my family.

Why did you become a Science teacher?
I have always been a strong communicator and quite a concrete thinker. I loved the challenge of biochemistry at university and followed that up with a Masters in Science Communication. People ask, 'do you do the same things every year?’ – but it really isn’t like that, with every group and every child bringing something real and often immensely amusing to my day.

Who is your science hero?
The first who springs to mind is Fred Sanger. He was a British biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, twice – an amazing achievement. Fred Sanger worked out the structure of the protein insulin and then went on to collaborate on DNA sequencing – a slow and laborious process, which paved the way for automised sequencing and the bioinformatics which we see today.

Are you drawn to a specific area of science?
I am definitely a molecular biochemist, with strong leanings towards medicinal biochemistry. I have been teaching for over 30 years now so can turn my hand to all parts of the specification and questions. I also enjoy writing examination questions – it is a real challenge and gives me an enormous buzz when you look at the skills and logic you have asked for.

Why are practical experiments so important in learning science?
Because we do not live in Ancient Greece anymore! The whole of our scientific method revolves around falsification of hypotheses. We cannot do this without collecting evidence and that is where practical research comes in. School-based experiments are essential to give the girls opportunities to use apparatus, follow instructions and to consider errors. The reformed specification requirements have made certain practicals essential and with a level of maths to go with them. I am really pleased with the new standard and expectation.

What advice would you give to any pupil looking to develop a career in science?
Go for it! There are so many avenues these days to suit all interests. Research your degree choice carefully and pay attention to where students have gone on to work. Carefully consider courses with industrial placements in this country or abroad. Be prepared for the difference between academic research and working in a company – there will always be an element of management and a loss of practical time whether you are in commercial or a university type environment.

Can you tell us about students who have gone on to degrees/careers in science?
In the last two years, we have helped girls go on to read medicine, veterinary science, engineering, biomedical science, biology and biochemistry. As always, Mrs Porter is a mine of information when it comes to St Gabriel's old girls and where they are now.

This year, we have also had some really super talks from parents who work in science and have come in to share their knowledge in lunch time seminars.

Do you think we are alone in the universe?
I do not really work in belief systems. Show me evidence of aliens, and then obviously they exist.

Do you have any other message you want to share with pupils?
Balance is an extremely important thing in life. Science teaching has been my career, but I have gained so much pleasure from music, my family, my friends and the natural world.

Can you tell us about how your interest in music developed?
My parents are not musicians at all, but they played lots of classical music when I was growing up and encouraged me when I wanted to learn the piano. We had a terrible piano which cost £5 and then upgraded to one that cost £20. a few years later. I also had a very strict and frightening A Level music teacher, who made me work and stimulated my love of music.

Do you think musical ability is something you are born with or is it possible to practise and become talented?

Wasn't it a famous golfer who said "the more I practise, the luckier I get"? It's a bit like that: yes, there is an element of what you might call the 'god-given gift' but practise, practise, practise, is what makes the difference!

View full interview

Where in Italy were you brought up and which languages did you study and from what age?
I was born in Italy, in the Northern region of Emilia-Romagna, in a city called Reggio Emilia.

In Italy, the school system is quite different as we have primary, middle and secondary schools, with secondary schools being vocational. I have always been fascinated by different cultures and countries, so I enrolled in a ‘language grammar school’. I learnt English from middle school all the way through to university and in secondary school I added German and French. I graduated in modern foreign languages and literature (English and French) from the University of Bologna.

What inspired you to teach and brought you to the UK?
When I was 17, I spent a few weeks of the summer holidays in Cambridge. I lived with a family and attended an English school for foreign students (yes, I was one of those students hanging around in big groups, all with similar backpacks!). Despite the daily Spam sandwiches in the packed lunch, this experience was certainly life-changing for me, so much so that on my return I told my mother that one day I would move to England…

My secondary school English teacher was a very inspiring classroom practitioner and a fantastic woman. It was thanks to her that I studied languages at university and decided to become a teacher. On graduating, I moved back to Swansea University, where I had already spent one year on the Erasmus Programme, and I qualified to teach in Britain.

Read full interview

Mrs Borzoni was interviewed for our Summer 2019 Newsletter, sections from this interview are reproduced below.

What is your role as school librarian?
My overall role is one of promoting literacy in the form of books, magazines and providing information literacy. The latter may simply involve helping to find information for a piece of homework or something a little more involved such as helping students work on their Higher Project Qualification. One day I might be reading stories to children in Sandleford Nursery, the next I could be supporting the English Department in a session on myths and legends. One thing is certain, there is a lot more to being a librarian than just stamping books!

What are your fondest memories of books from your childhood?
I read all kinds of books when I was a child. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell was one of my favourites, I read it so many times that the book fell to pieces in the end. At school I was a Sixth Form Library Prefect. I knew then that I wanted to be a specialist children’s librarian (or a nun!). When I had completed my degree, I worked in library services for the elderly and housebound and eventually secured a position as a school librarian before joining St Gabriel’s some 10 years ago.

Can you tell us about other activities you get involved in?
I really enjoy helping to run the creative writing sessions at lunchtimes. Sometimes we work on a particular form of poetry or creating believable characters for a story. Other times we play writing games, where we follow certain rules and have to come up with a piece of prose. The hardest one is to write without using the letter ‘e’ - it is quite a challenge!

During Senior School Activity Days, I host a Detective Day for Year 7 to tie in with their English module on detective fiction. Pupils devise and act out their own criminal capers. It is hard work but lots of fun!

There is also an annual Book Fair and I am usually involved in writing the staff pantomime.

How do you encourage children to read?
One of the things that can make so much difference is finding an author or a genre that really grabs a child’s attention. For instance, picture books that are popular in Sandleford Nursery and Key Stage One include the Winnie the Witch series and books by Alex T Smith. The illustrations are so bold and bright and the stories are interactive. I am also a great believer in reading aloud to pupils. Literature of all kinds has never been easier to access.

St Gabriel’s

Year 5 Senior School Taster Day - Thursday 6 July

Reception Open Event - Friday 15 September

Whole School Open Morning - Saturday 30 September

Staff Profiles

Ricki Smith

Angela Chapman

Peter Dove

Amelia Smith

Anna Chicken

Hannah Trevis

Emma Hammons

Rebecca Wright

Vicci Vaughan

Clare Lawrence

Katie Noonan

Michelle Bullock

Rebecca Harvey

Paul Spurrett

Verity Brazendale

Jennifer Wellard-Hughes

Jessica Hammett

Dr Philip Tebbs

Ms Sarah Ferretti

Ann Borzoni

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