Kathryn Warren

First Job: In a petrol station.

What it taught me: Service with a smile means more than you think. For some customers you were the only person they'd see or interact with all day so it became much more than a cliché, but rather a recognition of the difference you could make in brightening someone's day. I also remember genuinely really enjoying shifts because of the people you were working with. That taught me an awful lot about the importance of team and building positive relationships with those you work with.

Family/status: Single.

Best advice anyone ever gave you: About eight years ago, I joined up for a beginners’ kickboxing class as a different fitness option. A 45-minute class, once a week for six weeks has now turned into a lifestyle. The motto of this martial art and the ProKick gym: ‘Truth. Discipline. Respect.’ has helped me make sense of myself and life. William Shakespeare's character Polonius is famous for advising his son: "This above all: to thine own self be true" in his play Hamlet. There are lots of situations and people in life who will want you to bend to their 'truths' but having integrity and being honest with yourself has only ever caused me to grow as a person. I come from a family of hard workers, I knew what discipline looked like as a spectator, but I know now the reality of the phrase 'hard work pays off'. 

Best advice you could give someone thinking of a teaching career: Believe in children and young people. When I was a young person I wanted to change the world, I loved reading about young people throughout history who had been influential in changing their world, turning the tide on injustice and standing up what they believed in. I'm no longer that young person, but I still haven't shaken the belief that young people can shape the world for the better. I see it every day in the students of St Mary's. Don't limit or lower your expectations of young people because of what you hear in the media or from other voices.  Be yourself. I remember thinking in my first year teaching that I would never be able to teach like one of my colleagues, so for two days I tried to teach like them. After those two days, I felt as though I hadn't slept in two weeks! I realised that my students didn't learn anything more by my performance, in fact they were probably wondering what on earth I was doing! 

I didn't go straight into teaching following my BA (Hons) in English and Theology at Queen's. I knew I wanted to work with young people and had been doing so during university and continued to after my graduation. I grew up as a teacher's child; my mum was in fact my primary school principal for three years! I knew how hard teachers worked, I knew the hours behind the scenes that the job often demands and I decided I would be better suited to youth work rather than teaching. In 2012, I was asked by NICIE to undertake some research work into young people's perspectives of shared education, this then led to presenting the feedback to teachers and principals and collaborating on strategies to encourage shared classrooms. This foray into the education world sparked a desire to bite the bullet and pursue teaching. I completed my PGCE in 2013 and began teaching in St Mary's for half the week and Malone Integrated College for the other half of the week on the Signature Project. Since then I've never left St Mary's!  Teaching in an all-boys school is perfect for me. I'm a massive sports fan and enjoy all the usual banter that comes from being a Manchester United fan these days. I'm passionate about school and society being a safe place for students to be open about their struggles and successes. The rapidly rising suicide rates in Belfast along with the amount of young people (males especially) who are suffering from poor mental health has become more than just a harrowing headline to me, it's something I'm not satisfied to stand by and watch take out a generation who have so much to offer. Having fought my own battles mental health issues, I am keen to do what I can as a teacher to ensure any student in St Mary's know they have someone to turn to even when they don't have the words to say. When I'm not battling the mental health stigma, I can usually be found in my kickboxing gym, walking(usually uphill), with friends and family, drinking tea or reminiscing about the good old days of Alex Ferguson.