Shona McFadyen
Shona joined The Corby Sixth Form when it opened in August 2023 and has been instrumental in shaping the science curriculum, fostering academic excellence and creating a culture of compassion, awareness, and social responsibility.
Her personal experiences enrich her teaching, making science relatable, engaging, and deeply impactful. Shona’s lesson design prioritises student learning, ensuring lessons are immersive and thought-provoking. By demonstrating science’s presence in everyday life, she forges tangible links between theory and real-world applications. Her dynamic teaching approach makes science come alive, building on foundational understanding before introducing complex biological concepts.
Shona’s journey to teaching is remarkable. Diagnosed with liver failure and cancer early in life, she lived in constant anticipation of a life-saving transplant, which she received in late 2022. Throughout school and university, she balanced her studies with the uncertainty of her health. She openly shares her story in assemblies, illustrating resilience as a way of life rather than a buzzword. Her students learn first-hand the value of perseverance and goal-setting, inspired by her lived experience.
Jess Day
Jess Day is a former student who studied the course she now teaches and keeps students at the heart of everything she does. In her role as Outdoor Adventure Instructor and Lecturer, Jess has played a pivotal role in leading, delivering and developing areas of the curriculum, beyond where the team ever expected it to go.
Jess engages the students with thought provoking and challenging sessions, both practically and academically. She is focussed on progression and works tirelessly with students in group sessions as well as on a one-to-one basis to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that they need to be successful in their future careers.
Jess has challenged her students to gain some of the best work placements and employment opportunities in the Outdoor Adventure industry by working with prestigious companies in the UK as well as overseas in Dubai, Greece and Saudi Arabia.
