Hi, I'm Jess!

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​​My education story has many twists and turns. As a child of Irish migrants, my education was a mix of schools across four countries, fifteen education facilities and many months of each year spent in the rural west coast of Ireland. I have experienced a wide range of learning environments to say the least. If that wasn't enough variety, after qualifying with a First Class Honours degree in Art and Design and working as a fashion buyer for the Uk's leading retailers, I found myself again being pulled towards education.  

 

At first I believed it was a need to fulfil the gaps in my own learning from years of chopping and changing, but soon into my training I discovered it was much bigger than that, I was an educator in my soul. I wanted to engage with every student, and this meant learning about every type of learner, every approach and test these theories over and over until I became a highly skilled and intuitive educator. Experiencing new places was familiar to me, so I continued to travel and teach in multiple schools in the UK, Ireland and now in Western Australia allowed me me to soak up different practices and reflect on the students engagement, motivations and outcomes.

 

​One thing that has been a consistent in my life is supporting those who don't quiet fit the societal 'cookie cutter'.  I was always 'the new kid' at school and that meant a lot of masking. This is an exhausting practice and often detracted from my learning but adapting to other peoples expectations was my super power. Yuck right?! Now, masking is the very last thing I want for any student. Being your true self means you are present, ready to learn and unafraid.​

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I forgot to mention, I'm dyslexic! I didn't find out until I attended University, which was not unusual for the time. This explained my 3/20 score in the weekly spelling tests. Being dyslexic has it's obvious down sides but it also heightens my other skills and makes for an 'outside of the box' type thinking that is so beautiful in neurodivergent brains.  

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Being yourself in the current school system is not easy, it requires a lot of conforming, a lot of sitting still and generally not very much joy. This has lead to choosing to homeschool two of my children. We are all much happier and they have the time and space to learn in their own way. It is in my opinion the golden ticket to learning, a freedom only given to the minority of families who can choose it. ​

 

More than ever my soul continues to pull me in the direction of educating, and since moving to homeschooling, I have supported a number of families in their transition. I have created a local homeschooling group, provided social meets, online groups, small study groups and one-to-one tuition. ​I believe TailorED methods are the truest form of education. Coming directly from a students natural curiosities and cultivated by the educator. We all know an educator that listened to us, believed in us and gave us that next step that made a real difference. A person you could trust because they treated you as an equal. That is my way, my students are my boss, I work for them and they lead the way! I can see the bigger picture and I know trust and connection must be earned for learning to flourish.  ​I look forward to helping many TailorED students and families to get curious and enjoy learning!