Heriot's, A History

I can feel it happening again - time speeding by and never a moment arises to take a step back, take a breath, and reflect on life. It's a slippery slope, and I remember this feeling from my last teaching post. I'll blink and in a moment it will be December and I won't have taken the time to write anything down. Then I'll blink again and it will be June and the school year already over. Today is a slightly quieter Sunday than most, so it's an opportune moment to take my cup of tea, sit in my sunlit lounge and reflect.

Just before my Vichy half ironman, I was alerted by a friend of mine of a teaching post in Edinburgh that seemed to have my name written all over it. A primary teaching position with the ability to teach across all age groups and with a specialty in science - sign me up! I applied for the position just before we left for France and Switzerland and then promptly forgot about it as I already had too much to think about. It was definitely a surprise when the day before I flew home I got an email asking me to come in for an interview! I may have been dancing around and celebrating - even if I didn't get the job, it was a good step forward into the Scottish education system.

Let me back up a little bit and tell you about the school I was interviewing for. George Heriot was a goldsmith in Edinburgh in the 1600s. When he died, childless he bequeathed most of his fortune for the foundation of a school for "fatherless bairns". Work began on the building and the foundation stone was put into place in July of 1628. But it was not used as a school until 1659 when it finally realized the dreams of its founder. You've probably already done the math - I'm working at a school that is older than America! But that's not the best part... some of my readers may know what a HUGE Harry Potter fan I am, and this is the school that J.K. Rowling gazed at from the Elephant Cafe in Edinburgh and used as inspiration for Hogwarts. It looks like a castle, we have prefects, we have 4 school houses for which the students earn house points, we have quidditch teams and potions classes - okay maybe not those last two, but the rest are true! The views are also spectacular as the Edinburgh castle is just a stone's throw away up on the hill.

Yes, it does look like a castle - thank you for noticing!

Playground with the view of Edinburgh Castle

Fast forward back to the future, and I completed my interview and observed lesson and the next day I was offered the job. To be honest, I was in a bit of shock at first but I quickly recovered and accepted the position. It would mean more commuting and more stress and more work but I was very excited for it. So I interviewed on a Tuesday, was offered the position on a Wednesday, and returned to the school to sign my contract on Thursday and then started at the school the following Monday! It was a whirlwind of a week and things were changing rapidly. Now I've just finished my second week and things are starting to get easier as I settle in.


My favorite part of the school so far (besides wearing black flowing robes to assembly!) is the people. All of the leadership team, teachers, and support staff are wonderful, welcoming and kind. No matter how many times I get lost or forget a meeting or ask a question, someone is always there to help me. The children are also helpful, inquisitive, and interested in learning which makes my job extremely fun. I get to expand myself a bit as well, as I am now teaching philosophy classes to children in Primary 2 and 3. I am technically the science coordinator of the school, ensuring that the science being taught is student-driven, inquiry based, interactive, and meets all the standards in the curriculum. I hope I can live up to their expectations and make some positive changes to the school for the coming year.

I had told myself I was happy with just teaching online and not interacting on a daily basis with students - and this was true up to a point. I loved the flexibility of working online, of traveling wherever Paul was, of being able to get things done during the work day and of not feeling completely exhausted at night. But I did miss seeing that lightbulb over a child's head light up with understanding and the pride they feel as they learn something new. I guess everything in life has ups and downs, you just have to decide what is most important to you and run with it. For me, right now, teaching in a school feels right. It's only a maternity post, so at least I'm only committing for a year, but it's a gigantic step forward for my career and the novelty of working at Hogwarts still hasn't worn off!

I have to go up the winding turret steps to get to my office, but I've been promised that the stairs don't move.

In front of George Heriot's!