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Meet the Micklefield Teacher - Fiona Yarde

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Fiona Yarde

Head of Lower School and Year 2 Teacher

Why did you choose a career working with children?

There hasn’t really been a time when I didn’t want to be a teacher! I enjoy getting to know children and their families and so working in partnership with parents to help their child to love learning and make progress, is a real joy.

Can you tell us about your career until now?

I completed a PGCE at London University Institute of Education where I was so very fortunate to have the inspirational Miss Wendla Kernig as one of my tutors. She had escaped the holocaust as a child and when I knew her, she had been the head of a progressive school in South London. She passionately believed in the ‘finding the fire’, the special quality that makes each child unique, that when ‘cultivated’ would result in each child making their contribution to the greater good. Her own story was one of incredible resilience, a love of life and a desire to help others – including, in her case, becoming a successful foster parent to a child with a very challenging personal story and who had never settled before.

I completed teaching practices in schools in London and was offered a job at one of them in Brixton. I have worked in the London borough of Croydon as well as schools in Surrey, both maintained and independent. I have loved teaching in every one of them!

I have been so privileged to have had my own family too and being a parent has taught me so much.

What is your favourite subject at school?

I am so lucky to have been able to find something to enjoy in every subject – some subjects more than others!

What is your favourite children’s book and why?

I love books but it is hard to choose just one. ‘Each Peach, Pear Plum’ by Janet and Alan Ahlberg is a classic story for young children, combining strong rhyme and rhythm with characters from familiar nursery rhymes (and was a favourite with Wendla too). Roald Dahl’s ‘Revolting Rhymes’ offers a very different take on the same characters, but as the blurb says, ‘I bet you think you know this story. You don’t. The real one’s much more gory.’ It was a firm favourite with my children when they were a little older. However, it is ‘Peter Pan’ by J.M.Barrie and its unique relationship with Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), that puts this book in the top spot for me. Did you know that GOSH has always honoured Barrie’s wish to never share the amount raised for the hospital from Peter Pan royalties?

What is your most memorable moment of your teaching career?

I have been teaching for many years…and so I have so many memorable moments! I love seeing every child progress, gain confidence, believe in themselves, have a go and smile with pride at their own achievements. Recently though, I have heard that one little girl would like a Mrs Yarde Barbie to play Barbie schools with at Christmas – and that thought I will never forget!