Alistar Boucher

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT ALISTAR BOUCHER

I have been a teacher since 2007: as a specialist in English for 10 years (7 at Ackworth, 3 at Wallington County Grammar School in Croydon), as a specialist in Drama for 7 years, and in various teaching and Senior Management roles alongside and within these (historically, KS3-5 English, KS3/4 Religious Studies, KS5 Psychology, Head of Sixth Form, Head of Teaching and Learning; currently, alongside KS3-5 Drama, KS5 Government and Politics, KS4 HPQ and KS5 EPQ). I took an English and American Literature degree at Warwick in (Class 1), an MA in Performance at Queen Mary University of London in 2005 (Distinction), and a PGCE in English and Drama at the Institute of Education in 2006. I am currently an examiner for the Cambridge IGCSE in Drama, and have previously been both Assistant Examiner and Team Leader for CIE English Language and AQA English Language at GCSE level.Pedagogically, I am nomadic, and find a home wherever I can best serve my school. I am inspired by this mixed diet, and have especially come to appreciate the creative outlet afforded by Drama, relishing that creative pressure to produce and direct plays. Though predominantly a one-person department for Drama, I pride myself on an output that is both considerable and outstanding in quality - I oversee 4 productions a year, organise the school’s Speech and Drama provision, lead on theatre trips (which are consistently minimum 4 per term), fundraise, and organise wider enrichment (such as NYT Schools Audition Days, National Theatre’s New Views Playwriting Competition, ESU’s Performing Shakespeare Competition). It is hugely satisfying; my students grow tangibly.My years at Ackworth have seen me evolve and develop so many new academic and extracurricular skills and interests, and I have been trusted to juggle these and deliver them at various levels. I am currently, for example, a trained facilitator of the World Peace Game and run a nascent Peacejam group at school, aimed at realising grassroots social action. I have particular interests in the concepts of parallel, invisible curriculums, and have pitched at Ackworth a Peace curriculum to sit alongside an academic curriculum, which involved meetings and research with staff at the University of Bradford’s Peace Studies Department.I believe in continual development and hold myself to standards that drive me towards both a reflection and a honing of good practice, as well as reinvention and a drive towards adding value for both department and school, with an absolute focus on the progress, development and well being of my students.