Cardinal Hume Catholic School, Gateshead

I studied Construction in years 10/11 at Cardinal Hume, then I took Maths, English & IT in sixth form. When I left school an engineering apprenticeship fell through, but I managed to get onto a mechatronics (mechanical & electrical engineering) course at Newcastle College. After a year I managed to get another apprenticeship with as a field service engineer for Siemens Healthcare. The role was to install & service medical X-Ray & ultrasound systems in hospitals based in the North East of England. Siemens put me through my Level 3 & my HNC for Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Tyne metropolitan college. During this I also undertook training in Germany for both theory based & product courses. The products I was trained to work on were mainly Surgery & Breast Screening systems. I completed my apprenticeship & in total worked for Siemens for just over 7 & a half years. In January 2021 I left Siemens to join Carestream, to work on more general X-ray systems.

When I was at Cardinal Hume, I wanted to be a GP. So I took all science A-levels and received an offer from Durham University. I actually wasn't that good at science - and so, I didn't achieve the grades to meet my university offer. During clearing I came across Northumbria's Law and Environment degree, I thought that this would provide a good opportunity to study the science behind environmental studies and get a law degree. I actually found that the "law" bits suited me much better!

Thanks to the excellent teachers I had at St Edmund Campion/Cardinal Hume I achieved a number of GCSE's which enabled me to continue my education within the sixth form. Whilst in sixth form I studied Physical Education, Maths and Science. I then went on to graduate from Northumbria University with an undergraduate degree in Sports Coaching. The final stage of my education took place at Durham University where I graduated with a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) which allowed me to become a teacher. I now work as a Physical Education and Maths teacher.