Working with schools is central to what I do. I am a fully qualified PGCE primary teacher. I played in bands in my teens and twenties and in order to make me look rounded and interesting, I left "plays guitar" on my CV. During my NQT year in my late 30s, my first headmaster recalled this small detail and asked me to support a year-group that was due to sing at a local festival. My 1989 Jimi Hendrix style Stratocaster guitar re-emerged from its hibernation in the loft and reignited a calling in me that was hard to ignore. Once the genie was out of the bottle, there was no putting it back in. The children wouldn't let me. They kept asking me to play stuff if they did their work so they could sing along. Friday afternoon golden time evolved into something special. We would sing all sorts, children would ask me the meaning of words in songs, comment freely on the grammar. We discussed the historical and social backdrop of songs and bands and where they were from, the meaning of lyrics and how the music made them feel. They made up dances, wrote their own songs and drew pictures inspired by the  lyrics. Parents also began to engage in a very positive way and there was a really good vibe. We started a school band, we had a teachers choir and the longer the guitar stayed in the school, the more I was asked to play it. When I moved to Suffolk, I decided to go solo and that's where I am today.