I knew since I was 6 that I wanted to be a teacher. Growing up in a classic Kiwi rural school meant running around the village barefoot with friends, no adults in sight and coming home for dinner. Fast-forward a few years, I'd completed my teaching degree in Barcelona and was hungry to explore the world. I did an Erasmus programme in Finland and volunteered teaching street children in New Delhi. This lead me to a deeper interest in spirituality and meditation and I begun bringing this into my teaching in primary schools: seeing each child as a full being, treating them with warmth and uplifting their innate mana.

After a few years at international schools in Myanmar (Burma) I wanted to come back to NZ. I can be pretty picky with which primary school I work at, and found one in Wellington that was forward-thinking and open to exploring diverse ways of educating. Covid caught me half way up a mountain in the Peruvian Andes, so I spent those first few months in a eucalyptus forest in a broken tent without electricity or water, with a small group of people whose main purpose was being their best selves, every day. This changed the way I relate with the natural world and my own sense of capacity.

I've spent the last couple of years in Marlborough working for Outward Bound, which has brought a lot of growth and know-how in the outdoors. It's strengthened my belief in the necessity of bringing the outdoors into our lives.​

Despite all those moments... here is a big challenge for me.

Opening up a Nature School in Nelson region has been my dream for over a decade, very close to my heart.

I'm diving in!