Staff Profile: Miss Nicholson

Miss Nicholson has been a member of Our Lady’s for 12 years and her tremendous work with staff and students here will leave a big impact on our school. Congratulations Miss Nicholson and thank you for your dedicated service and commitment to our school.

What is your role at our lady’s? I have a very varied role, I am a teacher in the Expressive Arts faculty and the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator.

What do you enjoy most about your job? I love working with all the students and helping them to overcome difficulties and achieve their potential, it’s a very rewarding role to have in a school and I feel very fortunate to have done it for so many years. I also enjoy working with my amazing team of teaching assistants who are an incredibly patient and hardworking team.

What will you miss most about Our Lady’s? Everything! It has been a very difficult decision to leave Our Lady’s, I have loved my time at this school and I know I will miss all the students, staff and families from this community. I will definitely miss the school shows and the sense of achievement that comes with it. I’m not sure Mr Banham will allow me to escape from the pit orchestra so I may get to see them in the future. My next school has a lot to live up to if it is to compare to Our Lady’s!

Funniest moment in school?

There have been several funny moments over the previous 11 years especially within the SEND and Expressive Arts teams, I think the moment others would pick is when I broke my ankle at the summer concert turning pages for Mrs Prince on Piano. I have now retired as a page turner due to it being an extreme sport. There have also been several funny moments with the students especially when away on residential trips. I know you have performed in a lot of the school shows, what has been your favourite and why? I think I would have to choose Les Miserables, it was such a great achievement for all the students to put on such a difficult show and the talent on stage was evident for all to see. It was also a very talented pit orchestra and great privilege to play alongside such talented musicians. I also really enjoyed playing the Music for Sister Act, I think the pit orchestra had as much fun as the students.

What has been your favourite trip with school?

I am very fortunate to have been on so many during my time here, Langdale will always have a special place in my heart as it’s a great way to get to know the new year 7 students and I have really grown to enjoy both archery and shelter building. The Paris trips were great but I think my true favourite would have to be the Barcelona trip last year with year 11. A massive thank you has to go to Miss Power for all her efforts organising these trips and asking me to join the team.

What are some of your favourite memories?

There are so many it would be unfair to try and mention them all. I have so many great memories to take with me and I sense that Our Lady’s will always have a special place in my heart, this is a great community to be a part of and I am incredibly proud of the students and their achievements over my time here.

What do you enjoy doing outside of school?

When the world was a little more normal a lot of my free time was taken up with Music, I play Trombone in a band and perform at several concerts and competitions, including the National finals. I find it incredibly difficult to do nothing so my lockdown hobbies have recently moved towards hiking and improving my fitness. I have loved exploring many different places, it’s amazing what interesting things you find when exploring such as caves and bomber crash sites.

Plans for the future:

I am moving to a senior leadership role at a school in Oldham, continuing as a Special Educational Co-Ordinator. This is to gain more experience at another school in a different authority while I decide which career route I would like to follow. I would like to either continue in school educational leadership or complete a masters in Psychology and train as an Educational Psychologist.

Any unfulfilled ambitions? I discovered too late that I would like to be a sea lion trainer… I think this will be remaining unfulfilled!