TEACHER TUESDAY: Sarah Simmonds

Name, position at Stonar and when you joined

My name is Sarah Simmonds and I joined Stonar in September 2023 as a Teacher of Chemistry. I am also a tutor to an awesome group of Year 9 pupils.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born in Germany but grew up all around the globe as my Father was in the Army. I attended Wells Cathedral School and after studying Chemistry at University, I worked at Porton Down as a Vaccine Research Scientist before becoming a Teacher in 2011. My Mother was a teacher and I think I always knew I would work in Education at some point. I love that being a Teacher allows us the privilege of showing young people that they are capable of achieving any goal with belief, hard work and resilience.

You are now half way through your second year of being at Stonar. What do you enjoy most about the School?

It would definitely be quicker to ask me what I enjoy least about Stonar as I absolutely love it here. The beautiful setting, the pupils and the staff are the stand out reasons though. I love that you can walk around the school and there is always someone with a friendly face to say hello to, it really makes my day! 

What pedagogical approaches do you like to use?

I love to use a Constructivism approach as I believe pupils learn best by being active learners who can make conclusions through their own experiences. As a member of the Chemistry department, I am so lucky that our subject allows us to continually come up with practical activities that help pupils understand the difference scientific concepts.

What do you like to do in your free time/ hobbies? 

I have two gorgeous but very energetic little boys and a five month old Goldendoodle so we spend most of our time outside finding puddles to jump in and hills to climb. When not doing that, I love to potter about at my allotment and watching true crime drama series (not at the same time though).

If your life was a movie, what would it be?

Anything Disney as I love a good sing-a-long. The current favourite in my house is the Moana 2 soundtrack.

What is a fun fact about you? 

I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2011 and won the award on camp for most likely to be injured by falling over thin air.