What’s the best advice you have been given?

Spend some time alone every day.

What’s your proudest achievement?

The birth of my daughter Adelaide.

What one thing would change your life for the better?

More sunshine.

What is the song of your life?

“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers.

Who do you most admire?

Marie Stubbs, the inspirational headteacher who reformed St George’s Roman Catholic Comprehensive School in Maida Vale, London. Her experiences of overcoming low staff morale and serious behavioural problems among pupils following the stabbing of Philip Lawrence, the school’s previous headteacher, are detailed in Ahead of the Class.

What’s the last book you read and how was it?

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. It’s an amazingly distilled piece of writing. I couldn’t put it down.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

Juliette Lewis.

What’s the secret about teaching that the wider world doesn’t know?

The thug of a Year 11 boy who made your life a misery really will come back and give you a hug in five years’ time.

Where is your favourite place?

Hamilton, Western Victoria, Australia. I undertook a teaching exchange there in 2005.

Where in the world would you most like to visit?

I have a dream of seeing the northern lights so it would have to be Iceland or northern Scandinavia - or Alaska.

If you could meet anyone from history, who would it be?

I would go back to the court of King Arthur and meet those Knights of the Round Table.

Apart from the job, what three things are most important to you?

My family and home; a healthy body and mind; my books.

What do you wish you’d known when you started teaching that you know now?

You really won’t use that lovingly-created resource that you’ve been carefully storing for a decade - it’s out of date.

What’s the big question about life that you would most like answered?

Why do bad things happen to good people?