September always takes me back to teaching.

Even though I haven’t been a full-time teacher for years now, there’s still something about September that feels like the start of a new year to me.

I remember those mixed feelings at the end of the summer holidays. Part of me would be looking forward to getting back, seeing the children again and starting a new year. But there was always the other side of it too – thinking about everything that came with the job and, if I’m completely truthful, always counting down the weeks until the next holiday!

I’ve spent most of my working life in education. I originally completed my nursery nurse training as a stepping stone into teaching, before going on to train as a teacher. Over the years I worked across both primary and secondary age ranges, became a SENDCO and was even lucky enough to travel abroad to train other teachers.

Education was a huge part of my life and there was so much about it that I genuinely loved.

I didn’t actually want to stop working with children

I left my permanent teaching job when I was pregnant with my daughter, Lily.

It wasn’t because I’d suddenly decided I didn’t want to teach anymore. Becoming a mum changed my priorities and made me think much more about how I wanted work to fit around family life.

And I didn’t completely leave teaching.

Over the next few years, I went back part-time for a while and did some maternity cover and supply work, all at the school I’d previously worked in.

I think that probably confirmed for me that it wasn’t actually teaching itself that I wanted to leave behind.

I still loved working with children. I loved seeing them grow in confidence and watching them learn something new.

I just didn’t really want everything else that came with being a full-time teacher anymore.

More than anything, I wanted to be able to work around Lily rather than constantly trying to work out how to fit family life around my job.

At that point, though, I didn’t really know what the alternative was. I knew I wanted something different, but nothing seemed to be quite the right ‘fit’.

Flexibility became really important to me

Becoming a mum also made me much more aware of just how inflexible teaching can be.

My holidays had always been decided for me. Taking a day off simply because I wanted or needed one wasn’t an option. Before having Lily, I’d never really given that much thought – it was just part of being a teacher.

Once I had my own child, it mattered much more.

I wanted to be there for her nativity plays, assemblies, sports days, school trips and all those little things that might not sound particularly significant until it’s your own child taking part in them.

That’s probably one of the things I value most about my life now.

I can organise my work around Lily and be there for the things that matter to us. If she has an assembly, I can go. I can watch her nativity play without worrying about whether I’ll be able to get the time away from work.

Our holidays feel different too. I remember that feeling towards the end of a school holiday when my thoughts would start turning back to work. The planning, preparation and everything else waiting for me would begin creeping into those last couple of weeks.

I don’t have that same back-to-work dread anymore.

That’s not to say I don’t work hard now, running a business can definitely be busy! But I have much more control over when and how I work, and that has made a huge difference to me.

I found Story Rangers completely by accident

The funny thing is, I didn’t discover Story Rangers because I was looking for a new career or a business opportunity.

I was simply looking for something to do with Lily!

I started taking her along to Story Rangers classes before Covid and really enjoyed them. I loved the whole idea behind the sessions and, with my Early Years background, I could see how much learning was taking place through the stories and activities.

It had so many of the things I’d always enjoyed about working with young children – stories, imaginative play, music, movement, sensory play and lots of opportunities for them to talk, explore and just be children.

And, of course, Lily loved it too!

At the time, I certainly wasn’t sitting there thinking, “One day I’ll own part of this business!”

But that’s eventually what happened.

I joined Emma and became part of her vision for what Story Rangers could become.

Somewhere along the way, I realised I’d found the ‘fit’ I’d been looking for. Especially while I’m pretending to be a dinosaur, talking to myself through a puppet or crawling around on the floor looking for a bear! 💚