Mr Power

I became a teacher at Nova because I love my subject which seeks to explain the world around us and I can think of nothing better than to introduce others to this vital subject. Teaching is relentlessly challenging and highly rewarding.

Feeling like one is making a contribution to the wider world is the ambition of many people in their careers and lives generally.  It is important to give students a strong foundation from which they can go on to make their own contribution.

Ms Brogden

When I  first visited Nova, the thing that most appealed to me was the friendliness of every single person that I met. When on interview, I was questioned by a panel of students, it was this experience that I most remember. The students at Nova are just as warm and welcoming as the staff.

Our Science lessons and Supernova enrichment and trips inspire our students to get involved in understanding the whole world which is out there to discover.

For me, Integrity is one of our most important DISC values - politeness, honesty, trustworthiness, kindnes, respect, support and challenge. Every day we endeavour to be a better version of ourselves and to bring out the best in each other. It is these principles that make us likeable and makes the world a truly wonderful place in which to live our lives

Dr Clapp

I was placed at Nova for my teacher training in 2014 and feel incredibly lucky to have found such a great school to work at. I am very proud of the work we do to show Nova students how inspiring science is; it is a pleasure to see students find science as interesting as I did when I was at school. What makes my job interesting is that there is always something different to do, a new group of students to work with, a new trip to plan, a new experiment to try out and lots more besides so there is no time to get bored. What makes my subject interesting is that science is in action all around us all the time and by understanding science we can begin to understand the World around us a little better.

I think all of our DISC values are important but perhaps the most important one for me is drive. I believe that if we are ambitious, work hard and endeavour to always do our best (not only in school but in our lives in general) then we will be able to achieve whatever we want.

I enjoy teaching science at Nova as every lesson is different and provides students a chance to build their knowledge as well as scientific skills.

I think drive is one of our most important principles as it shows when you put in hard work there is a world of opportunities for you.

My subject is interesting as it is forever progressing and changing with new discoveries and advancements made every day!

I think drive is really important. If you want something and it's important you'll find a way and not an excuse. I always say "hard work trumps talent".

Every day is different at Nova, I love getting to know students and watching them grow educationally as well as in confidence. I am lucky to be able to do lots of cool experiments with classes and watch their faces light up.

Nova has been my favourite place to work. Both the scholars and staff are incredibly warm and friendly and as a scientist, it’s very refreshing to have so many experts within the Science department to help inspire our students to understand the world around them, from the tiniest sub-atomic particles to the vast galaxies of our universe! I'm particularly excited to be working with our Catalyst Scholars and help to further their passion for STEM.

Of Nova’s DISC values, Drive stands out to me. It signifies that with the right attitude, motivation, and a lot of perseverance, you can overcome challenges life throws at you to reach your goals and succeed, both academically and professionally. My PhD taught me a lot about perseverance and drive, as a lot of my experiments failed but despite adversity, I learned to appreciate that failure is a learning experience, and it takes a strong-willed and courageous person to try again.

Science is everchanging, so there are always new ideas and theories that stimulate my passion for Science. Also, pupil's questions about Science continue to make my job interesting every day!

My experiences in policy and advocacy have underscored the transformative power of education in breaking down barriers and building a more equitable society. As a teacher, I am able to continue this work on a daily basis, making a meaningful difference in the lives of students and communities.

As a teacher, I believe that contribution is paramount both within the school community and as a personal value. In the classroom, encouraging students to contribute fosters a sense of ownership over their learning journey. When students actively participate by sharing their thoughts, questions, and ideas, it creates a vibrant and inclusive learning environment where everyone feels valued and heard.

English is a captivating subject because of its remarkable flexibility, enabling speakers to articulate thoughts and emotions with unparalleled versatility. Additionally, its deep-rooted historic and cultural traditions infuse the language with richness and depth, making English an inherently enriching and endlessly fascinating subject to explore.

Ms Sayers

I trained to be a teacher at Nova and I have been working here for almost 10 years. I love Nova because of our welcoming and supportive community. Even as a teacher I often have to do things which are new or which scare me. In my experience both pupils and staff are incredibly supportive of people trying new things.

For me, drive is particularly important for achieving success. We may not always find things easy, but having the determination to keep trying, even when we fail, is what has helped many of the most successful people in the world rise to greatness.

I enjoy working at Nova due to students opportunities to enquire and their excitement in exploring a range of topics such as development, geographical skills and urbanisation. It is important that students are exposed to a global community and are involved in decision-making roles.

While all our DISC values are important, for me I want our students to develop integrity. For me integrity means learning how to be respectful towards each other and ourselves, which is modelled every day to our students at Nova.

Geography is so interesting because it helps us to explore and understand space and place - recognising the great differences in cultures, political systems, economies, landscapes and environments across the world, and exploring the links between them.

Mr Silvester

I became a teacher at Nova Hreod due to the high expectations that Nova expects from all the students that walk through the door and become a part of our community. I have enjoyed working at Nova since day one. It is fantastic to see the students push themselves to succeed and produce work to a very high standard. My subject is interesting as I get to teach students about the events and people that have shaped the world. As Nova students progress from year 7 all the way to year 11, I get to see this vast bank of knowledge develop into an interconnected understanding of world history and how it has impacted on our lives today.

I think integrity is an essential principle at Nova. Our aim is to help students develop into educated fully rounded young adults who are polite, honest, trustworthy, kind and respectful to not only the staff but also their peers.

I enjoy supporting and seeing the progress of our scholars, especially those with SEN.

I believe our Drive principle is very important and striving for improvement and continuous hard-work brings out the best in our scholars.

I enjoy working with scholars to overcome obstacles and make their access to education a little bit easier everyday.

Mrs Clare

Drive is important because we can use our drive to achieve great things,  even if we aren't starting from the best place.

The thing I love most about my job is that maths is everywhere. We can use it to solve so many different types of puzzles and problems.

Ms Evans

Nova is a bright and vibrant school in which there is a clear underlying theme of commitment to learning.  It is an absolute pleasure to come to work each day. Teenagers are the key thing that make my job interesting. Also, seeing new ideas come to life through the development of ICT skills in order to create media products, and understanding how new business ideas come about and what makes a business thrive and grow is fascinating.

Drive is such a key value in life and is so important in my subject areas of business and media.  With drive and enthusiasm for an idea a new business will become a success, and media products will be made that inspire others.  Determination, pushing boundaries and exploring new ideas will ensure an entrepreneur prospers, and this value can be replicated in a business and media classroom.

Mrs Malik

As Head of House I am exceedingly excited to get to know everyone. I absolutely love maths. I have had a passion for it since a young age and my secondary school Headmistress saw this. I would not be where I am today if I did not have such amazing teachers and mentors. I really think all students have the potential to shine as brightly as the stars in the sky.

I really enjoy the 'lightbulb' moments when working with people of all ages. Curiosity is what pushed me to embark on a journey in theology at such a young age, I had a lot of questions and I did not want vague answers. In turn this has put me on a path to work with people of all backgrounds and ages in a pastoral setting as well as in education.

Scholarship has been such an integral part of my education and school's ethos. Scholars are held to high esteem in many societies around the world. In some cultures the highest rank is to be a scholar, it is higher than being a ruler/King or billionaire.

Mr Watkins

I am lucky enough to be head of the Mathematics, Computing and Business faculty at Nova. This is an amazing role as I get to shape how the entire school learn mathematics and how this links in with the GCSEs we offer. Maths is a subject all about problem solving, which is an invaluable skill regardless of what path you take in life. There are so many reasons why my job is interesting - the three main ones are: the fascinating subject matter, the exceptional team of teachers I work with and the incredible students we teach.

All of our DISC values are incredibly important, but I think perhaps the most important is integrity. Communities thrive when they are full of people who have a strong sense of integrity - people who can be trusted and who do things not just because they have to, or because they want to impress others, but because it is who they are.

Every DISC principle is important, however I consider having Drive to work hard will definitley bring success.

Maths is an interesting subject as we can see the whole universe surrounded by numbers, patterns and symmetries. 

Mr Miller

There is never a dull moment at Nova with lots of activities offered for all groups throughout the year. Some may question why they have to learn French, but we certainly make students realise that it opens up possibilities to immerse themselves in new cultures, find work in all different fields, whether sport or music, and most importantly, build their opinions on the world around them.

I became a teacher at Nova because I wanted students to realise that the world is theirs and give them the chance to broaden their horizons after leaving school, whether in a fulfiling career or going on to study at university.

Drive is so important in life because without it, you feel lost. It doesn't matter what your goal is, as long as you are putting in the best effort - anything is achievable. Success is never handed to you; it's earned when you're ambitious enough to work for it and get back up everytime you fall down. That's what a true Nova student does.

I am a big fan of the DISC values. They stand for a lot and cover every aspect of education in schools whether on the field, in the studio, treading the boards, in the dining room or in the classroom. These values make sense. Drive, for me, exemplifies what might most naturally lead to success in each of these scenarios, but it makes more sense in combination with the other values to bring happiness and balance along with it!

The ability to speak another language has opened up doors to different cultures and experiences in ways I could never have imagined as 15 year old revising for my GCSE speaking exam. Offering the potential of those opportunities to other young people through education is very exciting.

I decided to become a teacher at Nova Hreod because I believe its values and learning environment consistently strive to equip each scholar with the tools and skills they will need for successful futures.

In my opinion, I believe that the Drive principle at Nova is particularly important. Life has taught me that it doesn’t matter which field of work somebody goes down. They can always find success if they apply themselves, work smart and build the resilience to keep going when things become difficult.

A quote that my French teacher had on her display board when I was doing my GCSEs was “Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery.” I never truly understood the deeper meaning of this until I found myself living in a different country and having to survive in a culture and language that were not my own. However, despite all the challenges I encountered, I will, for the rest of my life, have taken away three main things: fantastic memories, the feeling of true freedom but most important of all, resilience. It is this characteristic that gives somebody a success-oriented mindset. It is this tool that will help the next generation shape the future and it is this tool that I believe languages are perfectly placed to build.

Zeal and passion for teaching and facilitating languages to students through my divers linguistic knowledge led me to joining Nova Hreod Academy Swindon upon the completion of my Initial Teacher Training.

The core values of Nova and the DISC principles are essential to the raising leaders of tomorrow. The Drive in the DISC principles is the Key to the rest. Learners are professionally nurtured to be super ambitious and be determined about what they will become in the nearest.

Having a knowledge of an international language connects one to the world beyond our immediate environment.

Mrs Mason

I think that every student needs to develop a sense of drive at this school and that, with high aspirations and drive you can achieve anything you want to.

Miss Parsons

Nova Hreod is a unique school that aims to ensure that every pupil flourishes not only academically, but holistically. The school ensures that every pupil is treated as an individual, and that is why pupils at the school love to learn.

I believe INTEGRITY is important. If we do not show integrity to everyone around us, we are limiting ourselves in becoming the best person we can be. Integrity allows us to become the best version of ourselves, whilst promoting these attributes to our peers.

Teaching physical education is interesting because every day is different, and every day is an opportunity to find out something new about the subject, pupils, or myself as a teacher. I love my subject and believe it is a subject that allows pupil to develop holistically (encouraging the best individual attributes of all pupils), as well as physically (promoting a lifelong healthy lifestyle).

Mr Stevens

This role allows me to incorporate the aspects I love from sport such as the need to be responsive and think quickly to overcome challenges on a daily basis, just like students face at school.

The role of SENCo is as equally challenging as it is rewarding. What is most interesting is I never know what to expect. I like the fact that even the predictable is unpredictable. I get to work with some exceptional people in teaching such a diverse population of students.

For me, all of our DISC principles are important. However, without a sense of drive and the determination to succeed, the possibility of falling short is high. This I feel is a principle that got me to where I am today. Having faced a number of challenges along the way, I was able to surpass expectation with the drive to do better.  

I think Drive is important because it develops the mindset that we are always able to improve. My job is intere3sting because I get to see creativity every day.

I became a teacher at Nova because I wanted to share my passion for my subject with young people and help them access the joy of performing and learning to play or sing together. Secondary school can be such a pivotal and transformative time in a young person’s life and finding a love of Music can be life changing for many people. I love that our scholars get a chance to express themselves in Music and hopefully develop a life-long enjoyment of performing or composing.

I think all our disc values are really important and they have certainly played an important part in my journey as a musician. I think that both drive and scholarship often go together. You don’t know what you’re capable of unless you apply yourself with drive and determination, then you reap the rewards of your hard work with great outcomes, whatever they are. Musicians and performers have to work really hard to improve by practising, especially if you want to study at a high level. But my personal favourites are integrity and contribution, which should always be present in our music making. We encourage our scholars to be kind and supportive to each other whether working with each other or performing in front of each other. It takes a lot of courage to develop as a performer and we need to give kind but constructive feedback, and value each others’ contribution. Music is a fantastic way to contribute to the life of Nova and we love all our scholars to get involved in Music making outside the classroom as well.

I love that we have a curriculum at Nova that really focuses on practical music making. It’s a fantastic part of the job to that some scholars come to Nova not having played any instrument and to see them develop into talented performers from scratch is a huge privilege.

Mrs Camm

I love working at Nova Hreod and arrived on the scene just before the completion of the ‘new’ school.  I was in awe of the design and still am every day. My middle leadership role has morphed over the years but at heart I remain a teacher of Design and Technology. I truly value the opportunities to work within a team and lead in Design and Technology. 

I relish a challenge and see my drive to learn and to teach as something to which we can all aspire. We all need determination to get something done. Smart, efficient working techniques are at the core of it. You take your chances in life, but you also have to take responsibly for making those chances happen. Through their drive and determination some students I’ve worked with have had the privilege to meet famous people from  royals to Prime Ministers and VIPs at Westminster Abbey. They have worked with celebrity chefs such as Heston Blumenthal and guested on TV shows. They have even met with the astronaut Tim Peake and designed food that travelled with him to the International Space Station. Even space is not the limit for Nova students.