Spotlight on: Mrs Murray-Smith, Head of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and Year 4 Form Tutor

When did you join Hallfield?

I joined Hallfield in May 2021.

Where were you before you joined Hallfield?

Before joining Hallfield I worked at Eversfield Prep School in Solihull.

What made you want to become a teacher?

The power a teacher holds to shape a child’s academic and social potential; I love children and the idea of helping them to progress and succeed really appealed to me.

What’s your favourite topic to teach and why?

The topic of family in French and Spanish is a personal favourite of mine, due to the lovely ways the children describe their families.

How does MFL enhance a child’s curriculum/development?

MFL really helps children to develop their communication skills through the spoken language. It improves their memory by learning and remembering vocabulary. It helps their literacy with the focus on grammar and looking at nouns and introducing challenging concepts of grammar such as gender, which don’t exist in English.

What careers would MFL subjects be useful for?

I believe that MFL helps all careers. Learning a language helps pupils to communicate with people around the world. MFL also enhances general communication skills and public speaking, which are beneficial to every career.

What does an average day at Hallfield look like for you?

Most of my time is spent with the pupils, which is the best bit about the job. If I’m not teaching or with the children, I am usually marking and making sure my lessons and resources are of the best possible quality, I’m a real perfectionist so this takes up a lot of my time.

What do you love most about Hallfield?

The pupils – the children at Hallfield are the heart of the school. Without their hard work, dedication and motivation we wouldn’t be able to achieve what we do within the school.

What would we be surprised to know about you? 

I am a qualified advanced Scuba Diver and have had the opportunity to dive in some of the best dive sites around the world. A few memorable dives were around south-east Asia, also diving with Bump Head Parrotfish, which some children may remember for a David Attenborough documentary. I have dived with both sharks and manta rays, which was one of my favourite experiences.

What hobbies/interests do you have outside of school?

I am a passionate linguist; I have been learning languages from primary school and continue this skill now, I am raising my children bilingually. My husband and I lived in Vietnam for a while, and continue to learn Vietnamese.

If you could pass on any wisdom to your students, what would that be?

The importance of being organised. I believe that organisation leads to success within both your academic and personal lives.

You can follow Mrs Murray-Smith on Twitter for regular updates on what he’s up to at Hallfield.