Goodbye Mr Wormald

Mr Wormald, a PE teacher at our school for the past four and a half years, is coming to the end of his time at Elgin Academy having accepted a teaching position at Gordonstoun, the next step in his full and varied career.

After travelling for a while once he’d got his degree, Mr Wormald worked at Gordonstoun where, among other responsibilities, he coached some sport (though not as a teacher). This experience set him on a pathway into education, spending a further year of study at Edinburgh University doing a postgraduate in PE Teaching. Then, as a newly qualified teacher he did his NQT year at Buckie High School. Seeking a more unconventional job, Mr Wormald worked in Orkney for a year to teach in both primary and secondary schools. “I travelled across the islands and flew on a little 6-seater plane twice a week. Sometimes I sat up next to the pilot, and he would give me the headphones, and I actually flew the plane occasionally for a couple of minutes and he was like ‘Don’t tell anyone in the back that you’re flying’, so that was pretty cool”. Between his flying escapades, Mr Wormald would teach very small classes in often remote areas of the islands, recalling spending time on the running along beaches, skimming stones with his classes and thinking “Am I really being paid for this job?”

A year on and he was back in Moray, married to his wife whom he met during his year at Gordonstoun. He worked as a visiting sports specialist in primary schools across Moray for four and a half years, before starting here at the Academy in October 2018.

Through his career as a PE teacher, his passion for the job has been constant. “I feel it’s really important to give students a love of physical activity, and hopefully allowing them to create a habit that they’re going to take on into adult life, because obviously there are so many benefits to being active”. He has also enjoyed sharing his other passions in school, through bread club, the S6 fundraising committee and Strictly, with his next performance on the 29th of March to be a final act at our school.

As comfortable as he feels in his current position, Mr Wormald sees teaching as his “passport”, allowing him to explore, travel and have new experiences. This is what he says motivated him to take on the opportunity at Gordonstoun, and to pursue other skills and passions like sailing, mountain biking, walking and tennis. There will be difficulties teaching in the different system of GCSEs and BTECs, but this is exactly the kind of challenge he is looking for. “It’s good to test yourself and do something new to put yourself out of your comfort zone a little bit, and now’s as good a time as any to go and do that.” We wish him the best of luck in his new job, and he will be sorely missed by his former pupils.