Leader for – EYFS, Geography

Mrs Thirsk loved working at Saxton so much the first time (2008) that she is back in Willow class for more fun! She started her teaching career a long time ago and has worked in 3 different schools around Leeds. At these schools, she worked with children in Nursery, Reception, Yr1 and Yr2 classes, and led Literacy and ICT across foundation subjects, as well as being an Early Years specialist.In 2008, Mrs Thirsk left Saxon to set up her own Pre-School in South Milford. The Pre-school grew over the 15 years that she owned and managed it, and she developed an amazing outdoor area and had a fabulous team of practitioners working there. They were inspected in 2015 and 2022 and were very proud to achieve “outstanding” in both inspections. During this time, she also worked for the DfE mentoring other Early Years settings across North Yorkshire, and had a role as a Governor at Sherburn High School.Whilst managing the pre-school was a fantastic opportunity for her, she always knew that she would want to return to mainstream teaching one day. Luckily for Mrs Thirsk, a teaching position became available at Saxton (Sept 2023) and she couldn’t think of a better school to return to. She is passionate about the importance of play in the Early Years and KS1 and believes strongly in enabling children to learn in a fun and hands-on way. At the same time, she has high expectations and develops a positive learning environment that encourages continuous improvement and self-belief. Mrs Thirsk is the Geography lead for Saxton and Monk Fryston schools, and works very closely with the team at Monk Fryston to carry out collaborative planning and assessment. Since starting at Saxton school, she has trained in: Phonics, Science and Drawing Club and is also currently studying for a qualification in Early Years Leadership.

During Mrs Thirsk’s spare time, she likes to go to Zumba classes 3 times a week and enjoys going on walks at the weekend. She is a keen skier although unable to keep up with her own children now! She also enjoys meeting up with friends, reading books and doing the occasional jigsaw.