IN THE SPOTLIGHT
KEY ROLE FOR OP AT THE CORONATION
As featured on the cover , Old Pocklingtonian ( 81-89 ), The Rt Revd Graham Usher , Bishop of Norwich , played a central role as one of two Bishop Assistants to Queen Camilla in the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday 6 May 2023 .
Eagle-eyed OPs may have spotted Bishop Graham performing his duties at Westminster Abbey which involved accompanying The Queen throughout the ceremony from her arrival at the Abbey until her departure , being on hand for Her Majesty as needed , and praying alongside her and The King during the service .
Commenting on his involvement in the Coronation Service , Bishop Graham said : “ It was an immense surprise to be asked by Her Majesty the Queen to be one of her two Bishops Assistants at the Coronation . Whilst thoroughly daunting , it was a huge privilege to be with the Queen at this important spiritual moment for her and for the King . I know that Sandringham , in the diocese I serve , plays a very special part in the life of the Royal family , and I imagine that my involvement in the Coronation recognised the place that Norfolk has in the Queen ’ s heart .”
Bishop Graham outside Westminster Abbey after the Coronation rehearsal .
After a couple of weeks of intense rehearsals in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace and then at Westminster Abbey in the run up to the event , the Coronation appeared to go seamlessly with an average of 18.8 million UK viewers tuning in to watch the televised coverage .
EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY – AN OP MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
It was a case of perfect timing when Hannah East ( 08-20 ), a Psychology student at Newcastle University , contacted the OP office back in November 2021 for help finding a work placement in educational psychology for her year in industry and fellow OP , Caroline Allams ( née Todd , 87- 89 ), founder of online safety platform Natterhub answered the call with the ideal opportunity !
Two years later and with the placement now completed , the OP office caught up with Caroline and Hannah to find out more .
FIRST , CAROLINE : What is Natterhub and how did it come about ? I founded Natterhub in 2017 with the aim to create an interactive , online safety platform for schools and parents keen to offer children the skills they need to be safe , savvy and kind online . The idea was born out of the realisation that most children are given screens and access to the internet , with little preemptive education to mitigate the potential risks of being online . It occurred to me that with every other facet of child development where there ’ s risk , for example , learning to swim or riding a bike , children have a series of lessons to prepare them for independent success , yet , with screens , parents just hope for the best !
What is your background ? I am a teacher at heart and having taught in some really inspirational schools in the UK , Barcelona and Hong Kong , I have developed a passion for social and emotional development and how this impacts academic success for students . The concept for Natterhub was created through seeing a gap in the educational market to teach the human aspects of being on a screen . So often , we think of technical understanding as being key to computing success and yet there are many soft skills necessary for children to develop if they are to thrive online .
How did you manage the leap from teacher to entrepreneur ? I was a young senior leader in my school in Hong Kong and whilst I loved this role , I knew I had creative ambitions . I taught myself to be a graphic designer and my first business , The Pedagogs was set up in 2004 . I created products for schools to develop social and emotional learning . Once we had over 50 % of all the schools in the UK , I sold the business and wanted to tackle the things that frightened me most as a teacher and as a parent – children online !
What are your key challenges and lessons learned from growing a start-up business ? The need for deep resilience and stickability ! Starting a business requires a lot of leg work and having a good idea is only the beginning – even when you think you know what it is that you want to do , it ’ s probably just the first of a hundred iterations of your idea ! The combination of vision , blind faith , reflection , determination , and commitment is essential and having a good understanding of self – I am grateful that I know very clearly what I am NOT good at and who I needed to join forces with to plug the gaps in skills or knowledge .
Why did you decide to take on an intern and what have you learned from the experience ? I think it stems from being a teacher but there is so much to learn from young people and the energy they bring peps up everyone ! We have had a few incredible interns and they ’ ve been brilliant for the contributions they make to the team and the product but also how the nurturing of that intern is great for everyone to step up and take responsibility for . Hannah worked closely with our head of marketing , and she really missed the energy when Hannah finished her time with us .
How has Hannah contributed to the success of Natterhub ? Hannah has been amazing . She provided Natterhub with precious qualitative research , through her work
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