A teacher who started his career in Tyneside has become one of the UK’s youngest Head Teachers. He began his school career in 2011 in Gateshead, before moving to St Wilfrid’s Primary, in Blyth.
Aged 27 Mathew Atkinson has taken the reigns at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School, in Newton Aycliffe and is already making his mark in introducing new ideas to enhance educational opportunities for his pupils.
Mr Atkinson studied town planning at Newcastle University before going on to complete a PGCE course at the University of Cumbria.
He said: “Teaching has always interested me as a career, but I decided to put it off to do a degree as I still was not completely sure what I wanted to do.
“Town planning was quite a nice open degree that encompassed geography, maths and everything I really enjoyed.
“But I got half way through that and wondered why I was still studying it. I love spending time with children and making a difference so I decided to go into teaching.”
St Joseph’s has 154 pupils, seven teachers and eight teaching assistants. The school will accept 2 year olds into their Nursery provision from April 2016 on an afternoon five days a week. Sessions will start at 12.45-3.45 and is free for families who meet certain criteria.
They can contact the school for more details or visit the school website. We will be holding an open morning on Friday 12th February between 9-11 where parents can be taken on a tour of the school and see what we have to offer.
If you are unavailable on this date alternative appointments can be made by contacting the school on 01325 300337.
