Our people

Robert Williams

Robert Williams (’05) Modern History, Oxford
Taught History Bethnal Green Technology College
Now Curriculum Leader, The Bridge Academy Hackney

I absolutely love my job. I love teaching, I love being on the programme, and I’m very passionate about teaching in inner-city schools, and one thing that I really want to do in the not too distant future is, when I’m ready, take on the headship of an inner-city school, maybe one that’s not doing so well, and I would like to turn it around or play a part in turning it around and improving it.

When my Year 11 class left this year, and they’ve just done their GCSEs, one of the things that really made me happy was just how many of them were going on to study history at A Level, and that was something that I was absolutely chuffed to bits with, because I’ve really enjoyed teaching them over the last two years, and the fact that they seem to have a love of the subject, and they’re going on to study at a higher level is something that made me feel extremely pleased.

Another highlight is kind of summed up at our Annual Prize Giving evening, which happened last night. Seeing some of my students in my year group up there receiving their prizes in front of their parents and in front of the governors and all these business people was something that made me really proud to be a Head of Year.

I said the reason I joined Teach First was for the challenge, and that expectation has certainly been fulfilled, even after three years teaching in my school every day presents new challenges.

Whether you make an impact or not is, in my view, largely down to the quality of the relationships that you have in the school with not just your colleagues, but mainly with the students, and if you’re the kind of person that can build strong relationships with people then I’ve no doubt that you’re the kind of person who could be really successful on Teach First, and you’re the kind of person that is needed in these challenging inner-city schools.