Teaching Staff

We are delighted to introduce the teaching staff at GFS.

Head of PE: Mr Ben Aston

Mr Aston is a graduate of Liverpool John Moores University in Physical Education, Sport and Dance. He began teaching at Newcastle-Under-Lyme School where he was in charge of Cricket, a Housemaster, and ran the school magazine. He was then appointed as a Head of PE at Stafford Grammar School, where he had responsibility for the core PE curriculum and all the boys' extra-curricular clubs. Mr Aston is an avid footballer and cricketer, and brings a huge passion for sport to GFS.

Head of Mathematics: Mr Danny Brown

Mr Brown studied Maths at Birkbeck College, University of London, and worked in London as a mathematician before becoming a teacher. In collaboration with the Further Maths Support Programme, Mr Brown has created a network across Greenwich for improving the teaching of Maths at Key Stage 5. He has his own Maths education website, has delivered sessions at the Maths Association annual conference, and is now writing a series of articles for Mathematics in School magazine.

Teacher of Mathematics and Philosophy:
Mr Michael Bennett

Mr Bennett was born in North Carolina but grew up in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. He graduated from New College, Oxford, with a Master’s degree in Mathematics and Philosophy before moving to Greenwich to train as a teacher at King's College, London. He has taught at Thomas Tallis School for four years, and while there assumed responsibility for the A-level Maths curriculum, which gave him the opportunity to prepare students for Maths and other subjects at university.

Teacher of Mathematics: Miss Megan Hibbert

Miss Hibbert grew up in the Peak District and moved down to London after studying Mathematics at The University of Manchester. She has just completed her PGCE at King's College London having worked in two schools in South-West London. During her time at university she also ran a dance school specializing in Tap, Ballet and Stage dance after many years of training to be a dance teacher. She is also a keen musician and is eager to bring these skills into the school.

Head of Modern Foreign Languages:
Mme Laura Le Claire

Mme Le Claire was born in Surrey and has dual nationality (French and English). She studied French and History at Warwick, including a year studying in France, and later undertook a Masters in Educational Leadership. Through Teach First, Mme Le Claire taught French for three years in Birmingham. Recently, she has taught a variety of different languages all over London. Mme Le Claire aims to instill her passion for the importance of languages in all her pupils.

Teacher of German: Miss Curtis

Miss Curtis studied French and German at University College London. She has also studied at university in Lyon and Hamburg as part of her undergraduate degree and has lived in Austria where she taught English as a Foreign Language to trainee teachers. She went into teaching through the Teach First programme and has taught both French and German at a large mixed school in East London. She is also currently studying for her Masters in Educational Leadership at the Institute of Education.

Head of English: Mr Jo Parkes

Originally from the Midlands, Mr Parkes studied English Language and Literature at the University of Liverpool, and taught English at Park View, a school in Birmingham. He has lived in Uganda, where he helped to set up a new school. Two years ago he joined Teach First, and in this time Mr Parkes was able to visit many of the KIPP charter schools in the US. He brings his knowledge of building school culture and ethos to GFS.

Teacher of English/Head of Curriculum and Assessment Development: Miss Caroline Cullen

Miss Cullen was born in Kilkenny, in the south-east of Ireland, and moved to London after completing an undergraduate degree at Trinity College in Dublin and a Masters degree in Theology at the University of Oxford. She has taught children with special educational needs, taught English to adult asylum seekers and refugees and, most recently, taught at a primary school in Peckham, where she organised for her pupils to work with the Royal Court playwright.

Teacher of English: Mrs Farihah Chantler

Mrs Chantler was born and brought up in Manchester; she studied Law at King's College London before returning back to the North to train and qualify as an English teacher. In her second year of teaching, Mrs Chantler was selected to attend the Global Teaching Summit in New Delhi as a UK delegate and has since gone on to support Teach First in developing vision-based training for future participants. During University, Mrs Chantler was the director of a Community Interest Community that led enterprise programmes in schools across London and now acts as an adviser to several university-based social enterprise groups that work in schools as part of the national Enactus network.

Head of History: Mr Harry Fletcher-Wood

Mr Fletcher-Wood was born in London, grew up in Bristol and studied History at Durham University. He taught in Kenya, Japan and India before returning to London, qualifying to teach through the prestigious Teach First programme. Mr Fletcher-Wood recently received a Distinction in his Masters in Educational Leadership, and has been selected as an inaugural Teach for All School Leadership Fellow where he will work with educational leaders from several countries.

Head of Science: Ms Corinne Flett

Ms Flett has moved to London from Nottingham where she taught Science at a large academy. Prior to this, she was engaged in designing and building satellites and spacecraft for the European Space Agency. She's excited to engage GFS pupils with science through her lessons, during which she will challenge pupils to find answers to important scientific questions, and will run a number of extra-curricular activities in support of those lessons.

Teacher of Science: Miss Katie Prestwich

Miss Prestwich studied Biological Sciences at the University of Exeter, and was attracted into teaching during her time at university as a sailing instructor. On graduating, she stayed at Exeter to undertake a PGCE and was placed in Weymouth, Dorset, before moving back to Essex to teach Science at a large academy. During her time at Exeter she was lucky to have the opportunity to carry out marine biology research in the Bahamas, which instilled a passion for getting students out of the classroom to see things first hand.

Teacher of Music: Mr Adam Scourfield

Mr Scourfield was born in Bradford, and studied Music at the University of Leeds. He worked as a composer for Television and Film as well as teaching in numerous prestigious arts institutions. Mr Scourfield is committed to developing creativity within schools and delivers professional development workshops to music educators through the University of Canterbury. He qualified to teach through the prestigious Teach First programme and is focussed on bringing a passion for music creation to GFS.

Teacher of Computing: Mr William Lau

Mr Lau studied Computer and Business Studies at Warwick University. He went on to train through Teach First and has taught ICT, Media and Business at a successful academy in London. He has visited free schools across London and Sweden as part of the Teach First Task Force and also has experience teaching the iGCSE curriculum, having taught in Seychelles. He was featured in The Guardian Classroom Innovation Awards and has been a guest speaker at TeachMeet London. He is a Google Certified Teacher, member of the British Computing Society and Computing at Schools group and is excited to be delivering a rigorous computing curriculum at GFS.