School experience: My school experience was very interesting. I went to a De La Salle School in my home city (Bogotá in Colombia). De La Salle Brothers are a Catholic religious community whose mission is to provide education. When I was a prep school student, I was a little naughty. Thankfully, a teacher discovered why and helped me to overcome my challenges. For my senior school I became what my sister called nerdy… Yes, I enjoyed learning and became one of the best students of my school! My earlier teachers would have been very surprised!

How did you get into teaching?

As I grew up, I became more aware that I was living in a country at war. Somehow, my parents kept us shielded, meaning that we were fortunate enough not to have witnessed the horrors of war. So, when I finished school, I decided to join the De La Salle brothers as a way to give something back to society. I trained with them to be a teacher and spent the first 7 years of my career as a Lasallian brother.

Tell us about some of the highlights from your career?

As part of my time as a Lasallian brother, I had multiple experiences helping other people. One of the most significant was to work with ex-fighters from the guerrillas and paramilitary groups in order to help them to reintegrate into society. It was tough, but always rewarding. It was particularly moving to see them finishing their basic education and then go on to do some university degrees. I also had the chance to work with the ‘Salivas’ (an indigenous group in the north of the Colombian Amazonian rainforest). Whilst working there, I had the chance to experience the wonders of the natural world. I also learnt to listen to ancestral cultures who have a special regard for the environment and its creatures.

After 7 years, I left the community and went to work in a fantastic independent school in Bogotá. Later on, as part of my soul searching, I decided to come to study in the UK. I was fortunate enough to be accepted at Oxford University, where I studied my PGCE and my MSc. My time as a teacher in England has been not short of remarkable, thanks to the wonderful young minds that I have been able to work with. This year, I have been able to join the incredible Rye community. This is, I am happy to say, a very proud moment of my career.

Who were your idols growing up?

I used to love science at school, so my first idols were Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. However, when I discovered Philosophy, I loved the ideas from Socrates, Descartes and Sartre…

What advice would you give for the students in their next steps after Rye?

Although it is sometimes challenging to visualise one’s dreams, dreams are built a step at a time. Suddenly, whilst you have been taking care of smaller details, you realise that your dream has come true. Never allow someone to tell you that something is not doable. It may take one longer or simply to use different path to finish with the same result. It is not a race, it is a journey.

We had the pleasure of interviewing our brilliant head of maths, Mr Moylan, who has been at Rye for 5 years and currently teaches six classes, as well as being form tutor to a year 10 form. Teaching Maths can be a challenge but Mr Moylan inspires all his students with his patience and enthusiasm. He kindly answered all of our questions, telling us about his life, his job, and giving advice for students.

What inspired you to be a maths teacher?

I wanted to help people, and I was passionate about maths and this job is a perfect combination. In an equation, maths + helping people = maths teacher.

Do you enjoy your job?

Yes. I really enjoy watching people learn and helping them understand maths better; it’s nice to get to the point where a student understands the lesson. Actually, when I first started teaching, I was only 4 years older than the sixth form class I was teaching because I had come straight from my degree and hadn’t taken a gap year. I also love hearing about what people have gone on to do later in life, and how maths is useful in their job- that’s probably one of the high points. The rewards of teaching are long term.

What is your favourite part of teaching at Rye?

I would say it’s the great sense of community and the diverse sense of achievement. Students can develop their strengths and I particularly like how nurturing it is.

What was your first impression of Rye?

I remember that the first class I had was very helpful, even though they didn’t know me. I sensed the atmosphere- it’s hard to put into words but people were very helpful and interested in me. I felt like I belonged here straight away.

Where would be your dream holiday destination?

It would probably be Patagonia, for its shinning landscaped, or California because of what I’ve heard about its landscapes, scenery, people, and for what goes on there, although I don’t think I would want to live there.

Advice for students taking maths beyond sixth form?

Studying maths is both fun, rewarding and powerful. For any students wishing to study maths in more detail at University, there are so many areas of mathematics which could be chosen as specialist areas, for example, specific areas of applied mathematics, supporting science, technology or engineering courses. There will also be the opportunity to learn more advanced mathematics, for example algebra and number theory, which are part of any mathematics course.

Mathematics is often perceived as a rather old subject, much of which was developed many years ago, but there are in fact a number of new areas of mathematics, such as decision mathematics, and you might even consider working towards some of the great unsolved problems of mathematics, which carry great rewards! A great example is the Goldbach conjecture: Every whole number greater than 2 is the sum of two prime numbers. This has never been proved!

Try to learn the basic principles and rules of maths, and understand why these rules allow maths to work in the way it does. Next try to remember these rules, and keep revisiting them if you forget them; it is so easy to become ‘rusty’ at maths. Always ask someone if you need help, don’t be downhearted; ask a friend, a parent, a relative, and always ask your teacher! Realise that many people may admit to finding maths tricky sometimes, but treat this as an incentive to overcome a problem, you’ll feel a great sense of achievement when you do get to the moment of understanding – and when you do, try explaining it to someone else!

School experience: My schooling experience was rather varied. From a rural primary school, I moved to an all-boys catholic school in the deepest of Northern Ireland which was on the site of a seminary. From there I landed in Clifton College in Bristol as a full-time boarder where I benefited from having an enormous Harrison & Harrison four manual organ only a few steps away from my dorm and an incredible music department.

As a young person interested in Music, who were your idols growing up?

Growing up, my idol has always been Sir John Eliot Gardiner of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras. As a little boy organist in love with Bach, Gardiner’s recordings of cantatas were just incredible! I was lucky enough to meet him when I worked for Monteverdi Choir. We got the same lift in Palau de la Musica once – the dream!

When did you realise you wanted to become a teacher?

I sort of fell into teaching a little unexpectedly. Initially I did a little teaching on the side to help me pay bills but soon realised that teaching was very much like working with a choir. Taking a room of people on a journey through music is really fun and it is amazing how much young people enjoy being exposed to new types of music which they never knew existed.

Tell us a little bit about life as a musician and some of the highlights?

Being an organist you get to do some of the strangest gigs and you just have to go with it. During my time as a student and Parry Wood Organ Scholar at Exeter College, Oxford, outside normal Evensongs I got to participate in BBC broadcasts, a concert in the Tower of London, tours of Austria, Italy, Malta and Slovakia, all the way to singing carols in a hotel lobby one Christmas evening because I spent all of my money going out for dinners the previous week! These days, I have an active organ recital calendar around the UK and have some choral conducting projects outside of my school life. I am also getting ready to record my third CD!

Have you ever worked overseas? If so, what was your experience?

For the last three years I have worked as a Director of Music in Kilkenny College and St Canice’s Cathedral in Ireland. Aside from that I have toured as a solo organist, choral conductor, and even once got to do lighting cues at La Scala.

What is the most rewarding part about your job?

It is the only place on the planet where I can get excited for and go through a Bach Cantata bar by bar and people don’t ask me to leave the room… Just showing people that music is a complex structure of ideas and a reflection of history is really fun.

What’s your favourite piece of music?

That’s a tricky one! I always go back to playing Johannes Brahms’ amazing chorale prelude, O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (O world, I must leave thee now). It is one of Brahms’ final works and is just so musically honest and beautifully settled.

When it comes to music, do you have any guilty pleasures?

ABBA – it absolutely is ABBA …oh and The Cranberries if I had a bad day!

And finally, what advice would you give to our students wanting to pursue a career in the performing arts/music?

Be ready for anything. The most amazing projects can spring up out of nowhere and sometimes you must trust your gut. There will be weeks when you might have no idea how you will pay your rent or how you will manage to do 4 gigs in one day but you just have to throw yourself into it and enjoy the performance. Above all just be kind. There are many good musicians out there and they may be good and clever but not all are kind.

School experience: I attended a local primary school in South Oxford and mass every week at the local vicarage around the corner to the school. I fondly remember singing hymns with tambourine, triangles and shakers being used for rhythm. There was a wonderful sense of community and care in the early years. My secondary school experience started at middle school in Oxford in which I remember the desire to ring the lunch time bell every week. I thoroughly enjoyed RE and English taught by the same teacher: a warm and generous lady. A memory that stays, is one of watching ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ one lunch time, whilst I was fasting; during Ramadan we were allowed to watch a film or read inside, one of the boys brought it in and I haven’t seen a scary movie since! School allowed me as a very shy student to explore ideas and acquire knowledge which I unknowingly thrived on.

When did you realise you wanted to become a teacher?

I decided to change profession after having a family: pursuing my PGCSE at the Oxford University Department of Education. This time I became member of Oxford University’s Kellogg graduate college. I have taught for over 12 years now and thoroughly enjoy it. My teaching started in Oxford comprehensive schools and then extended within the Oxford independent sector. As a family we decided to move abroad for one year and I taught in the UAE in Abu Dhabi as Science lead, we had a fantastic time in the desert!

Tell us a little bit about life as a Scientist. Did you work as a Scientist outside of schools?

On returning to the UK, I decided to pursue Medical Research at Post Graduate level and was awarded an MRC scholarship for Medical Research at the WIMM in Oxford. I pursued research in molecular medicine working in iron metabolism, for 4 years. As part of Professor Alain Townsends laboratory, I was able to collaborate with expert scientists in Oxford and also travel abroad to Washington, Malaysia, Singapore and Cairns, Australia. I visited a laboratory in Naples, Italy to learn a technique which I then used in Oxford to complete my research. I was fortunate to also enjoy life as a graduate student at Green Templeton College, Oxford.

Have you ever worked overseas? If so, what was your experience?

As mentioned, I did work overseas but additionally, when I was studying my undergraduate course in Medical Biochemistry at Royal Holloway University of London, I had the opportunity to travel to California and attend university as a graduate student of science for one year. In California I developed a passion for science research and my results were presented by the Harvard professor in Boston and in Italy at scientific conferences.

What is the most rewarding part about your job?

Teaching is a profession in which you are able to be creative, use your academic learning and life experience to help others to grow and acquire skills. It is wonderful when I bump into students that I taught in Year 8, who are now lecturers in Reading or analytical scientists in Oxford, or nurses and carers within Oxford.

And finally, what advice would you give to our students wanting to pursue a career in science?

I would highly recommend working both in the scientific sector, within academia and industry and in the education sector, as they are all very fulfilling professions. Through my journey so far, I have realised that it is a good idea to always be open to new experiences of work, people and learning.

School experience: I was at a girls’ boarding school, much like Rye in Winchester. I loved sport, and especially all the lacrosse we played!

As a young person interested in cooking, did you have any chef idols growing up?

My Dad was my first inspiration as he was the main cook at home. He loved cooking for us all and was never happier than having a table surrounded by friends and family to feed. I can remember making flaky pastry apple pie for Sunday lunch. Probably quite often as it was considered my party piece!

Once I started being aware of external cooks I would say Delia Smith was the first one I can remember being on television, sparking a rush on cranberries at Christmas.

Tell us a little bit about your career within the catering industry – have you worked in any restaurants or as a chef?

I’ve always worked in the catering industry, but on the supply side working closely with chefs. My job involved being in London regularly but since everything we supplied came from Italy, I travelled to the factories there as well.

Have you ever worked overseas? If so, what was your experience?

Yes I worked for a year in Northern Italy. Wonderful food and I loved being able to travel around Europe every weekend – such a joy!

What is the most rewarding part about your job?

Always the answer will be, the pupils. No two days are the same because of them.

What is your favourite meal to cook or to eat?

I love being cooked for. It doesn’t happen often but am grateful whenever it does!

My favourite meal would probably be something involving fish or seafood, so something like modules mariniere with a fresh baguette would be perfection.

And finally, what advice would you give to our students wanting to pursue a career in the catering business/food and nutrition?

The hospitality sector is the biggest employer in the country and there are a multitude of career options within the industry, not just the traditional route of becoming a chef. I would suggest exploring the different areas within the industry as there is scope to work creatively, scientifically, artistically and more depending on your skills and passion. There are many roles within nutrition, health care, food styling, catering, events and product development to name just a few that could be a great fit for you!

Experience at school:  I’m an old Rye girl and had a really happy time in senior school. I arrived at the time of Patsy Sumpter, she was one of the most welcoming people you could meet. She really made the school feel like a (very big) family. I still have some really close friends from my time at Rye and fantastic memories. One tradition that many old Rye girls will fondly remember is making, and eating, Afghan biscuits for charities day. A tradition that might need reviving! I also have fond memories of playing hockey, in particular our healthy rivalry with Headington.

When did you realise you wanted to work with children?

I can’t say that I’d had much interest in working with children until I took a part-time job in Stratford Library with my sister. It was a brand-new library with great facilities and the children from the local schools would come flooding in just after 3pm. They were not the easiest to manage but we would have so much fun. This then led to me doing an EFL course and summer camps with English lessons and, shortly after, a PGCE.

Overseas Experience: In 2008, I took time out from teaching in UK schools to take up a placement with VSO as a teacher educator trainer at a new university in Ethiopia. I was based in a rural town in the highlands and spent 18 months with some of the most welcoming people I have ever met. I had such a good time that I returned there to work at an international school in the capital, Addis Ababa. Ethiopia is a challenging country but the rewards were high.

The most rewarding part about job: The most rewarding part of my job has to be seeing girls who find things challenging making progress and watching their self-confidence grow. Sometimes, little things that might not mean much to others that are actually huge achievements to those individuals.

Free time activities: When I lived in Ethiopia, my free time was often spent exploring the country. I really enjoyed travelling and getting know the culture. I would also spend Sunday morning out in the hills horse-riding with my children. Since being back in the UK, most of my weekend seems to be taking them to football or hockey. At home I like to potter around, cook, read books and listen to ‘The Archers’.

Advice to our students: There are so many opportunities out there to make a difference in the lives of people with SEND. Getting to work in SEND is really fun and volunteering is a really great way to start. I previously volunteered with Riding for the Disabled so managed to combine my interest in horses with the enjoyment of working with SEND.