SPOTLIGHT ON…

CHRIS BROOKS, TEACHER OF PE AND ACHIEVEMENT COORDINATOR, BOHUNT HORSHAM

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Three things: my alarm clock, my girlfriend slapping me if I don’t turn it off within 3 minutes and my eagerness to complete the first task of the day which is something I set myself before I go to bed the night before.

How would you describe your job to a child?

It is not my job to tell you what to do all the time, it’s my job to ensure you have the knowledge, skills, tools and information necessary to make your own decisions when you do leave our school! Also, to have a lot of fun in PE along the way…

What is your biggest ‘game-changing’ achievement, personal or professional?

Personal – Winning my first cap for Hong Kong Rugby.

Professional – Working with an athletically talented but underprivileged pupil in a previous workplace. Took him to his first training session at Rugby club at Battersea Ironsides, took him to trial at Harlequins. Two years later, he is the fastest U15 200m/300m sprinter in Europe and was awarded a full sports scholarship to a leading private boarding school.

What three words would you use to describe your job? Weird but wonderful and unpredictable.

Where you do you see yourself in five years’ time?

Preparing myself to wave goodbye to our founding cohort at Bohunt Horsham as they leave us to go to the next stage of their adventures.

What’s your favourite song lyric or line from a film?

‘For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack’ – Kipling.

What’s the best thing about working at BET?

The opportunities available to young people outside the classroom. They have exceptional opportunities to access different cultures and activities that I don’t believe that you can place a value on.

If you were an animal, what would you be?

A wolf, because I can be patient, focussed and efficient but I’ve always been a team player and could understand my role in a wolf pack.

What two things would you take to a desert island? I would take a water purifier so I could get drinking water cleanly and bug spray.

Tell us a joke.

The French National Rugby Team.