Featured Teacher
WENDY BATAINEH- LEAVING AN INDELIBLE MARK ON ST CHRISTOPHER’ S SCHOOL BAHRAIN
Wendy describes herself as a Lancashire lass, born and bred, from a family who valued education and really encouraged her to study hard. She enjoyed school, but can remember when she was about fifteen, desperately wanting to leave school and make a start in the world of work. A couple of inspirational teachers( and her mother) persuaded her to stay on at school and after A levels, she applied both to teacher training college and to university. From her university days, it was evident that she was destined to spend her whole working life in education.
In her final year at university, she met her first husband, a Jordanian army officer, who was temporarily posted to London. Much to the dismay of her parents, she followed him back to Jordan where they got married.
In Jordan, she was fortunate to be able to combine teaching primary aged international children( whose parents were working at the university) with studying for a Masters in Educational Psychology. Her teaching career, which began in Jordan, is now coming to an end after more than forty years. She is about to retire after spending over eighteen years at St Christopher’ s School in Bahrain.
Wendy is married to Ed Goodwin
OBE, principal of St Christopher’ s school, who is also the the other featured teacher in this issue of the magazine. Wendy will retire from her role as Head of Junior School at St Christopher’ s Bahrain at the end of the current academic year 2017-2018. Before she jets off into retirement bliss, Teach Middle East Magazine chats with Wendy about what she will miss most about the school, her role and the region.
Your time at St Christopher’ s is drawing to a close. What will you miss most about St Christopher’ s School and why?
I will miss the children. It may sound like a cliché, but what has inspired me most over the years has been the bright eyed, eager children that I come across on a daily basis, determined as they are, to learn and have fun. I love the way young children see the world as one big, wonderful adventure. As adults, we can learn a great deal from children’ s inquisitive and fearless attitude to life.
It has been my educational mantra over the years at all the schools I have worked in. It sounds obvious that, in a school, children should come first, but conflicting pressures, staff opinions, policies and budgets can be such