Suzanne Gomersall

Role

Suzanne Gomersall is the Admissions Tutor for BA (Hons) Primary Education undergraduate degree as well as a Senior Lecturer. On this course she lectures across all four years, delivering sessions on primary Design and Technology and Professional development. She also lectures on the PGCE and School Direct Primary Teaching routes, in both D&T and PE.

Career overview

Prior to joining NTU in 2014, Suzanne was an Assistant Head teacher and literacy leader at Oak Tree Primary School. In a bid to improve reading results across the school by promoting a love of books, Suzanne project-managed the funding, designing, building and running of an inspiration library, which was named the most ‘Inspirational Library’ in the country in 2014.

Before that, Suzanne was a lead PE teacher, working with primary and secondary colleagues in her role as Primary Link Teacher of PE and School Sport Coordinator. Suzanne brought the ‘Wake and Shake’ initiative, which was to encourage children to engage in 10 minutes of daily exercise to many schools across Gedling.

After nearly twenty years as a primary teacher in Nottinghamshire, Suzanne joining the primary team at NTU primarily to lecture in Design and Technology and PE across the various primary teaching routes. She is very passionate about the value, importance and benefits of both of these subjects, both in the classroom and beyond. During 2014-17, Suzanne was also the Professional Placement leader for the PGCE primary route, and enjoyed building relationships with many school colleagues across five counties.

After completing her Masters in Education in September 2017, Suzanne has published various articles and presented her work at several conferences. In September 2018, she began her PhD studies, focusing on childhood obesity, combining the two areas of great personal interest - health and fitness (PE) and cooking and nutrition (D&T). Her PhD is the evaluation of a whole school project entitled: The Healthy Lifestyles Project (HLSP), which aims to develop children's practical skills, knowledge and understanding to choose, prepare and cook healthy ingredients to feed themselves and their families, helping to change their attitudes and perceptions towards choosing a healthier lifestyle. The HLSP consists of a series of interventions including:

• termly practical cooking and nutrition sessions delivered by a chef
• engaging parents through homework tasks and ‘top tip’ leaflets to accompany the practical session
• providing many opportunities to get active both in and out of school

Through her passion and rising profile, Suzanne is now an active member of the All-Party Parliament Group on School Food, as well as the Design & Technology Association's Subject Consultation Group, where she hopes to be able to play a part in shaping both primary D&T and School Food over the coming years.

External activity

Suzanne is an active member of the Design and Technology Association (DATA) Subject Consultation Group and have written articles for both their primary and secondary publications.

She has recently joined the All-Party Parliament Group on School Food, and is looking forward to presenting the findings of her study in the coming years.

Due to the new Ofsted framework which is promoting a 'broad and balanced curriculum', Suzanne has been in demand to provide CPD for staff in several of our local schools, and looks forward to continuing to support teachers as they bring their 'broad and balanced' curricula to life.