Dr. Tawanda Madhlangobe is a leading educator, academic and father of two. He qualified as a teacher from the University of Zimbabwe in 1993. Tawanda is deeply committed to the well-being of disadvantaged learners, hence his pursuit of a Bachelor of Philosophy in Special Educational Needs at the University of Birmingham. He then went on to study for a Master of Education at the University of Hertfordshire, awarded with a commendation. In his research, Tawanda focused on how to measure and understand disaffection as part of these studies. In 2008, Tawanda distinguished himself as a recipient of the Teacher of the Year award London Secondary School category for his outstanding work with disaffected students. He went on to study for a Doctorate in Education Degree investigating how educators use the experiences of students to design alternative curriculum provisions.

"I am a passionate educator with experience teaching both peripatetically and classroom music. Before working at Home Tree School, I taught at 5 schools in Norfolk delivering instrumental lessons to classrooms and individual students from key stage 2 up to key stage 4. Whilst doing this, I also had just over 60 private students studying guitar, bass guitar and banjo for weekly lessons. My students have a 100% pass rate when taking graded examinations.

When I am not delivering music, I am performing with a function band around the country called The Walks as a bassist. My work has allowed me to perform at extravagant venues, festivals and recording studios around the United Kingdom.

Other than having a passion for music, I also greatly enjoy raising awareness and funding for West Norfolk Mind mental health charity. My fundraising efforts include skydiving from 13,000ft, cycling 300 miles from London to Paris and summiting the world’s tallest freestanding mountain Mount Kilimanjaro and most recently, I have cycled from Lands’ End to John O Groats during the summer holidays. Because of my charity work, I was awarded the title of Charity Champion of West Norfolk."

"My name is Ty and I have been working at Home Tree School since November 2017.

I studied at the College of West Anglia for 3 years, studying Sports Coaching before moving on to Personal Training.

From there I coached sports at numerous main stream primary schools and secondary SEN schools, as well as managing an u10's Academy Football team "Wisbech Town PDC u10's". Following this I had a change in career and moved on to Personal Training based in March, where I stayed for 2 years. Although I thoroughly enjoyed this, I knew I wanted to work with young people again.

Mental health is an area that has always interested me but I had never considered as a career, although as soon as I heard of the position available at Home Tree School I jumped at the opportunity. From the first day I knew this was the career for me, I am enjoying the challenges and look forward to developing further. I currently deliver P.E and Food Technology lessons, as well as general T.A roles and Keyworker responsibilities.

I like spending my spare time at the Gym, doing anything that involves football and I love cheesy jokes and Comedy!"

"Prior to working at Home Tree School, I was serving in the British Army for 14 years, employed within the Royal Military Police. In 2010, I left the Army to start a family and subsequently took a 7-year career gap in order to bring up my 2 children. It was during my time as a full-time mother that I realised how rewarding a career in education would be. I obtained my Level 2 Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools qualification and began my career with a charity providing bespoke educational packages for children, aged 14-16, who have been excluded from mainstream school. I then moved onto working as a Teaching Assistant at Home Tree School, which seemed a natural progression in my new career.

Outside of work, I am a member of a local running club and enjoy participating in competitive races of distances ranging from 5k to marathons. I also enjoy spending time with my friends and family."

"I have been working in the Education system for about 10 years, both in Primary and Secondary education.  I completed my degree in Psychology and Sociology and particularly l enjoyed applying both these disciplines to fairy tales.  I have been teaching English for nearly 10 years and have thoroughly enjoyed teaching and am still enjoying the challenge.  I have many hobbies and these include reading, exercise and gaming."

"For twenty-five years I have worked in education firstly as a mainstream drama teacher than as a head of department in charge of performing arts. After six years I left to complete a masters degree in Drama and theatre in education. I then took a position as a head teacher at a special school where I stayed for 6 years using drama and theatre at the centre of the learning. I then specialised in re-engaging disaffected students back in to education and 1:1 work which I enjoy along with being a home tutor for CareTech.

My education history is a Drama degree. Drama and English PGCE and an MA in drama and theatre in education."

I have worked as a Science teacher across Norfolk and Cambridgeshire for over 10 years. I have taught children from year 5 to year 13 catering for a range of abilities and special needs. In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I have mentored new trainee teachers, been an assistant manager for the Duke of Edinburgh award, carried out specialist interventions for small groups of children and helped to run a Science Club.

Alongside my work in schools I have previously assisted several on-line education platforms by reviewing resources and also writing new quizzes/learning resources. In the summer exam time, I manage a team of examiners and carry out my own batch of marking of the GCSE Biology exam paper.

I joined Cambian Home Tree School in April 2022 as a part-time Science teacher, supporting the development of the Science curriculum and assessment.

I gained a degree in Zoology from Imperial College, and initially began a career in Project Management in the telecommunications industry. I then took a career break to have my 2 children before studying for my PGCE and gaining my qualified teacher status.

In my spare time I enjoy fitness and outdoor activities.

I am the psychological welfare practitioner at Home Tree School as well as a DDSL and the chair person for the behaviour task force.

I obtained my Psychology and sociology degree (BA Hons) from Anglia Ruskin University. I later continued my education with University Centre London and The Anna Freud Centre in association with Kings College London. From these institutions I gained a Post Graduate Certificate in Children and Adolescent Psychological Wellbeing practice in the faculty of science and language. I am now currently completing a Master’s of science with the University of Wolverhampton in The Psychology of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

I have had a difficult journey to reach the privileged position that I am currently in, the road to education for me was a turbulent one. I left the education system with no GCSE’s and no plans to re-enter education. Main stream school is a squared shape box and not all children will fit into this box and thrive. Home Tree School enables me to ensure our school is a flexible enough box to fit the shape and needs of our children.

“Ady has previously been employed in both mainstream and specialist education settings, specialising in Art, other creative subjects and English (Language and Literature). In addition, he has worked for homeless and social care organisations from the charity sector and also local authorities where as a project development officer, he delivered and set up youth projects to reduce youth offending.

Throughout his working career Ady has used art as a medium to bring about personal and community change. He has delivered art lessons in rural and urban settings, both indoors and outdoors. Ady is a painter, but can also turn his hand to model making and 3D works. He is especially keen on the use of recycled and reused objects.

Ady is a creative musician, working locally to create music across rock, acoustic and electronic genres. He paints most days and also uses his time to maintain an allotment as well as volunteering at a children’s holiday activity club.”

“My name is Cheyenne, and I am a teaching assistant at Home Tree School. I studied Teaching Assistant Level 2 and 3 at The College of West Anglia. I volunteered in mainstream primary schools whilst I studied and cared for my two young children. I spent 4 years trying to gain employment as a teaching assistant. With no luck, I continued to volunteer in schools. My nephew was diagnosed with ADHD and Autism in 2019. After helping meet his care needs, I decided I wanted a career in this sector to better my knowledge and help support young people struggling with not only special educational needs but also mental health needs.

Home Tree School gave me this opportunity in May 2021, and I enjoy every minute of it.

My job title is Teaching Assistant, but I deliver health and social care, and I am also a key worker.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends.”

Hello I am Kai, I am a teaching assistant, I came to Home Tree School after working in children’s homes for a few years. I have a few quirky hobbies including LARP, airsoft.   

My name is Bianca but everyone calls me B, I have been working for Cambian for 11 years now. I started work for Cambian in 2012 in the tier 4 setting for mental health for 7 years and was a team leader for 6 years there. I then moved across to a Cambian home for EBD children in 2019 as a team leader again, in my Team leader role I would lead a team of anything from 5 staff to 9 staff having TP’s and OT’s work in my team also.

After ten years I wanted a change but still wanted to remain in Cambian so in May 2022 I became a teaching assistant/specialist in behaviour management. I wanted to help encourage young people back into education. I have gained many skills over the years such as learning to manage challenging behaviour support young people when they hit crisis point and bring them back down to base line. I have sports qualifications at a merit level and used to coach football basketball in my spare time.

I have all my GCSE and an NVQ Level 3 and 4 in children and young people and I currently have the first year of my Level 5 in leadership and management, also a qualification in advance safeguarding lead , MVA (safe restraint techniques) Therapeutic Crisis Intervention training , STEP Model training, Safer Recruitment training (to interview newcomers) , Autism Awareness, Advanced Self-Harm and Ligature training, Life Support, Manual Handling and Health and Safety at Work and Fire Marshall training.

I like spending time with my family and friends and just laughing a lot. I like going on sun holidays and autumn walks.​

I’m Sonia and before becoming a fully qualified teacher I was involved in the provision of Early Years education.   Immediately prior to working at Home Tree School, I spent 16 years working in secondary and further education settings, teaching a range of age groups including KS3, KS4 and KS5.  I have taught a variety of subjects across these age groups, including History, Religious Education and Sociology to GCSE and/or Advanced Level.  I have also instructed in Geography, ICT and English to the lower year groups. 

At Home Tree School I am responsible for the delivery of the Humanities subjects, and running assemblies twice a week.

My interests outside work include socialising with friends and family, yoga, walking, cycling, and visiting historic sites/museums.