New faces at King’s Hawford

At the start of the new academic year it is always a pleasure to welcome new faces to the staff body at King’s Hawford, with this year being no exception.  Each brings with them impressive skills, experience and qualities, as well as amazing personalities that will allow them to fit right in at King’s Hawford; we say a huge King’s Hawford welcome to our new faces:

Class Teacher: Tanya O’Neill
Mrs O’Neill will be joining us as the new Year 4 form teacher, working alongside Mr Cook. Her form will be 4TO and she is very excited to get to know the children better following her meeting with them in the last week of term. After qualifying in 2015, Mrs O’Neill spent the next five years teaching at Arnold Lodge School, a co-educational independent school in Leamington Spa. Here she taught predominantly in Key Stage 2, gaining plenty of pastoral experience as a Year 4 form teacher as well as developing her teaching skills and subject knowledge in all curriculum areas. She was subject lead for immersion (humanities) and coordinated KS2 productions. In 2020 she left to have a baby and also relocated back to Worcester to be nearer family. Since then, as well as enjoying the opportunity to spend time with her growing child, she has assisted her husband in starting up a business. As her son is now of nursery age, Mrs O’Neill was keen to get back into teaching. Following her successful and very impressive interview, she was delighted to accept the teaching appointment at King’s Hawford. Mrs O’Neill loves Harry Potter, is scared of spiders and is a self-confessed ‘foodie’!

Dance Coach: Sophie-Jo Lusted
Miss Lusted will be taking over from Jenny O’Brien as our new Dance Coach. She will be teaching all the junior dance lessons and running the annual Dance Showcase. As well as this, she will be leading lunchtime and after-school dance and drama clubs on Wednesdays and Thursdays for Kindergarten, Pre-Prep and Key Stage 2. Miss Lusted comes to us with a wealth of experience and plenty of energy and enthusiasm. Having danced since the age of four, she graduated with a first-class honours degree in Musical Theatre and Dance from the distinguished London Studio Centre. After this, she obtained a London-based agent with whose help she took on numerous performing contracts across the country. Most notably, she took part in a UK tour of The Little Mermaid and was one of the dancers for the Pet Shop Boys Inner Sanctum tour. In 2016, Miss Lusted launched her own company ‘Monkeys in Motion’, which provides various classes and workshops across Worcestershire.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her little boy – he definitely keeps her on her toes. She also loves taking her dog, Skipper, on long country walks. Her favourite animals are monkeys and she describes herself as a chocoholic!

Support Assistant: Grace Reynolds

Miss Reynolds will be working as a dedicated pupil support assistant in Year 2. She trained in Primary Initial Teaching in Education and has a keen interest, and lots of experience, in working with children with SEN. She is a conscientious and motivated professional, with a child-centred approach, and her enthusiasm for the role is contagious. In her spare time, Miss Reynolds likes being active. She enjoys all sports, but most impressively, she plays football for Worcester City Women’s FC.

We wish all of our new faces the best of luck and a very warm welcome.