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.