The surprising past of Harlington headteacher Helen Harris

Former cruise ship worker and wool handler turned school head
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Not many headteachers have had such an interesting background as Helen Harris of Harlington Upper.

Prior to joining the profession, this adventurous mother-of-two had a wide range of jobs including working on cruise ships and wool handling with a sheep-shearing gang.

So it's not surprising to learn she's keen to create ambitious, altruistic and accountable leaders out of the school's 1,200 pupils.

Harlington Upper headteacher Helen HarrisHarlington Upper headteacher Helen Harris
Harlington Upper headteacher Helen Harris

Harlington is highly academic and has impressive outcomes at both GCSE and A-level but according to Helen, education comprises a lot more than simply studying.

She says: "We believe that every individual should have goals and ambitions, big and small. That we all need to be kind and think about how we can support each other. And that when we make mistakes, we take responsibility for them and learn from our actions."

Teaching is in her blood, although it took her a while to get the bug. She was born in Belfast but spent much of her childhood in Germany as her parents taught in the Royal Air Force.

They returned to the UK when Helen was a teenager but wanderlust struck and she travelled extensively during her gap year and again after graduating.

She subsequently took a qualification enabling her to teach English as a foreign language and worked in Taiwan and Spain. She enjoyed it so much she went back to university and was accepted on a PGCE course at Leicester University.

"I never looked back," she smiles. "Being a school leader is a truly wonderful job.

"I took up post last September and had a very strange start as I rarely met anyone face to face.

"The greatest frustration for me was the way students were and still are sometimes depicted in the media.

"There is a disproportionate focus on learning loss and mental health - both hugely important of course but far from the whole picture.

"I should like to see more emphasis put on their incredible resilience and the remarkable way communities have come together in the face of educational disruption.

"Our young people have learned so much from living through this unique period in history and we need to remember to embrace the many positives from this experience as well as provide all the necessary support.

"We place great emphasis on leadership opportunities and the wider enrichment curriculum - we're looking forward to becoming a post 16 basketball academy in the hear future."

Harlington is Helen's first post outside London. She previously worked in Barnet and Haringey and was most recently deputy head of a large secondary school in Mill Hill.

She's still amazed by Bedfordshire's space and scenery and says: "It's not every job where you can look up and see red kites circling overhead.

"The students here are amazing and I now can't ever imagine working anywhere else. I feel genuinely positive about this generation's future."

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