Radha Mocherla

I came into the teaching profession after an established career in industry as a chemist. I started teaching in Cromwell Community college in 2004 and took on the role of Head of Year 7 within a year. This marked the beginning of my journey and I was keen to combine the pastoral and academic routes in my teaching career. Eager to develop my teaching skills, I led the teaching of Chemistry both at GCSE (Triple Science) and at A Level. Visiting other Sixth Form Institutions gave me the opportunity to share outstanding practice. With experience I began to seek new challenges and to this end I successfully completed the accreditation to become a Lead Practitioner (SSAT) and obtained the NPQSL qualification.

Being a Lead Practitioner allowed me to pass on my expertise from about ten years of experience as a teacher in the classroom and as a Head of Year. As part of my NPQSL project, I was part of the Teaching and Learning Team for Cromwell and I wrote the Marking and Feedback policy which is now part of the Teaching and Learning Policy. This was an important part of Cromwell’s school improvement plan, which aimed to raise the standard of teaching and learning to at least good in all areas. In 2017, I ran a CPD
program for Recently Qualified Teachers, RQTs, in order to raise their aspirations to middle leadership. I helped them to ensure that the quality of their teaching would reach the standards of good to outstanding. This was very successful and I am proud of the achievements of the recently qualified teachers I supported. More recently I have become the SLE (School Lead in Education) in Chemistry for the Fenland district, working with nearby schools, helping to raise standards of teaching and learning that will ultimately improve the achievement of students in A level chemistry.