Danielle Dammes
I attended Walton Academy from 1999 to 2003.
I moved to Walton Girls’ High School in year 8 from a mixed school in Derbyshire and was very worried about how I would fit in, as the school was so different to what I was used to. I found my group quite quickly, and some of them I am still friends with 20 years later.
I genuinely enjoyed my time here. I enjoyed the lessons and took part in every extra-curricular activity I could (apart from sports — Mrs Stewart and Mrs Guest would not have approved!). I felt like I was part of a community, even on difficult days.
When I was in year 10, I had a careers meeting at Walton. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I came up with Egyptologist, marine biologist, an archivist at a museum or a librarian. After leaving Walton Girls’ High School, I studied A level English literature, psychology, media studies and art. After a year of working full time, I decided to go to Nottingham Trent University, going on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature, mostly because I liked books.
I went through many different careers before landing in education after my own daughter was born. I started out as an apprentice teaching assistant in a secondary school, working as an English learning mentor and unqualified teacher, before moving into primary education as a pastoral assistant.
I am currently working as a learning resource manager at Walton Academy, or as I like to call it, a librarian, spending my days surrounded by books.
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We are Walton
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