Kate Christopher

Head of RE, Holland Park School, London When I finished University I wanted to drop out and become an environmental activist. The last thing I wanted was to get a job, a flat, an alarm clock and a classroom full of teenagers. Reading Theology at St Andrews I had explored environmental, business and feminist ethics and had started to enjoy critiquing the world as I found it. I spent a year in Australia working on farms and living in strange places; a shack in the bush, a sheep-shearing shed, a new-age tepee gathering. I spent some time in India and Fiji, living in villages and learning about alternative ways to live one's life. Finally I ended up teaching English in a small village in rural South Korea to a lot of cute but incessantly energetic children. After a year of working with them I took stock. My Korean was certainly better than their English, and I had achieved my Tae Kwon Do black belt, but I knew I couldn't spend my life in a sleepy Far Eastern village with my family and friends so far away. I thought I might like to be a social worker. I got the bus to my friend's house in the nearby town to use her computer and apply to some courses back in England. On the bus I suddenly realised that I absolutely loved teaching, had loved it all year, and wanted to be a teacher. I applied that night and got a place at Cambridge to do my RE PGCE. I have never looked back. It's still my dream job, four years down the line. The students give me energy and cheer me up, and I consider it a privilege to work with young people in the capacity of trusted adviser. I am so glad I teach RE as well. It's the a subject where students develop their own voice, where they are empowered to ask searching questions and they come to lessons expecting to be surprised, challenged and inspired. I quite like having a flat and a job now, although I still hate my alarm clock. My initial desire to be an activist was inspired by a desire to make a difference, which every RE teacher certainly has the potential to do.