Anike’s Story.

Anike knows the rhythm of school life: the intensity, the speed and the way it can take over everything. During term time, she says, it feels like the accelerator is pressed right down, a hundred miles an hour until suddenly it stops. Holidays give her the rare chance to breathe again: to walk the dogs, meet neighbours and simply be present with her family. Her friends call her their “holiday friend,” because it’s the only time she has space. And it’s in these pauses that she remembers what matters most: kindness, listening and presence.

Her path has always been shaped by stories. First through her love of English and literature and now through the unfolding stories of the pupils and colleagues she works alongside. Over the years, her belief has shifted. Primary school, she says, is not about stuffing children with knowledge but about helping them learn how to be learners, how to collaborate, how to find their voice and how to belong.

At Oxford High Prep she has nurtured Earth Studies, a subject that brings geography and sustainability into lived experiences of climate, community and change-making. When she asked her staff what “best teaching” looks like, not one mentioned knowledge. Instead they spoke of collaboration, creativity, communication and independence, which are the skills Anike believes lie at the heart of education.

Kindness sits at the centre of her work, not as a soft word but as a practice. Some days it means listening more deeply, other days it means owning her humanity when she is snappy and always it begins with being gentle with herself. “Teachers are often their harshest critics,” she reflects, “but if you can be kind to yourself, you have more to give to others.”

The Fellowship has given her both structure and sustenance. She holds onto an image that has stayed with her: trees standing strong in a hurricane because their roots are intertwined underground. That, she says, is what this community feels like, unseen but deeply connected, giving strength to weather the storm. In her own classrooms she brings this alive through simple practices like wonder walks, empathy circles and active listening, embedding wellbeing into the fabric of daily school life.

Anike dreams of schools where children feel resourced, joyful and fully themselves. “If our children leave primary school knowing how to think, how to collaborate and how to find their own voice,” she says, “then they’ll be ready for whatever comes next and to live joyful, meaningful lives.”

Listen to the full conversation with Anike.