The Chronicle, Autumn 2018

16 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Paula Diaz Rogado is now in her seventh year at St Edward’s teaching Spanish. Last year, she took on a new role as the Head of Community Service. Will Griffiths, Media Manager, spoke to Paula about her time with St Edward’s to date, the opportunities pupils have to be active in the community and her vision for the future of the programme. Community Matters

worked with and witnessing the benefits that community service brought to them individually, and reciprocally, of course, to the community itself. It’s a powerful thing. When I joined King’s College, they had an expansive and well-established programme in place. Back then, English was still relatively new to me, and I remember watching on as students from King’s College put on a puppet show for children in a deprived area of South London. It was inspiring to witness their engagement and the rewards it evidently brought both parties. What was St Edward’s community service provision previously? There were various elements to our community service setup: the wonderful

What was your path to Teddies? I qualified as a teacher in Spain before coming to London to take up a position as a Languages Assistant at King’s College London for a year; whilst I was here Spain suffered a bit of an economic ‘wobble’, so I started looking for other opportunities in the UK. Luckily for me, St Edward’s was recruiting at the right moment! Has the School changed much in your time here? I think it has changed a lot actually. The academic development under the Warden and Deputy Head Academic, Matthew Albrighton, in particular. They have restructured the fundamental style of teaching in our classes, and certainly

for the better. Walking around the School you will see the pupils at the whiteboards, and collaboration and discussion are commonplace. You can see the impact this has on the pupils; they really take ownership of their learning. Managing this in just five or six years is quite an achievement. In fact, a teacher who taught here 10 years ago visited the School last term and remarked how the academic approach and classroom environment was completely unrecognisable. It was gratifying to hear. Where does your interest in Community Service stem from? I was a Scout Leader in Spain when I was growing up and always enjoyed both the interactions with the young people I

Paula Diaz Rogado