Jodi-Ann Ricketts

- degree in Theology and Religious Studies St Mary's University, Twickenham; I was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. I came to the UK in 2001, where I did my GCSEs, A levels, and recently, my degree. I have had the privilege of attending very good schools and as a result I have had many good and influential teachers, not just in the RE departments, but across the curriculum. My interest however for choosing to teach RE stems from a religious background and a deep interest in the subject as a whole. I find that RE is the most relevant and holistic subject on the national curriculum. It is not just learning about different faiths, it is also about developing one's ability to interact and communicate with people on different levels and different walks of life. It challenges a person to think outside the box and it enables people to be interpersonal and relate to other people who are different. The best RE teacher I had was in secondary school. She brought ‘flavour' and innovative ways of introducing a new topic which was very inspirational. Alongside this, I have many experiences of working with children, some of these include basketball coaching to primary school children, paired reading and helping children with their reading skills. Finally, I love RE because of the kinds of questions that are raised and the endless responses that are sometimes neither right or wrong. It is interesting, engaging, informative and very relevant!