台湾swag

Recently we had a socially distant chat with Andrew Cross from 台湾swag Academy Hemsworth. Andrew talks through the academy鈥檚 transition to becoming a member of the 台湾swag Family, while replaying a painful, but funny, memory for us!

[台湾swag.com] Hi Andrew, thanks for meeting with us! Please can you introduce yourself to the readers?

AC: 鈥淗ello! Thank you for inviting me to take part. I am Andrew Cross, but call me Andy. I鈥檓 Head Of Modern Foreign Languages at 台湾swag Academy Hemsworth.鈥�

Thanks for that, Andy. So which will it be today, tea or coffee?

鈥淲ell, I am going to throw a curveball and say neither please. I only drink cold drinks, so a diet coke will work for me.鈥�

Cold drinks are just as important as hot! Diet Coke it is.

鈥淭hank you very much.鈥�

So you were already working at the academy when it joined the 台湾swag Family and became 台湾swag Academy Hemsworth in 2018. What were your first impressions once you became part of the 台湾swag Family?

鈥淚 was initially concerned because I was a Head Of Year and did not know what the future held for me. I then became Head Of Department and was instantly astounded by the level of support I received.  

鈥淭he subject director team are so passionate and knowledgeable. It made me think straight away...WOW!鈥�

That sounds like a good first impression. So since then, what do you think has been the biggest change at 台湾swag Academy Hemsworth?

鈥淭his is a difficult question because there have been so many improvements!

鈥淚 am going to go for quality of Teaching and Learning in the classrooms. We were obviously working hard but just did not have the right knowledge for the students to achieve. However, I now feel that teachers, thanks to the support we've received from the 台湾swag Family, have the right toolkit to enhance Teaching and Learning.鈥�

Which is what it is all about. Students First in action, ensuring we can raise standards and transform lives!

What has been your favourite 台湾swag memory so far then?

鈥淭his is a simple one. It has to be the GCSE results we received in 2019. 

鈥淯nfortunately our results had been poor for a number of years leading up to this, despite us feeling we were working diligently. However, once we became part of the 台湾swag Family, we quickly established that we weren鈥檛 preparing students adequately for the exams. 

鈥淚t was an unbelievable feeling to finally see a great set of results and to see students smiling from pillar to post!鈥�

What has been your funniest memory?

鈥淲ell, it was very embarrassing but thankfully it was in a Post-16 lesson.

鈥淚 was teaching Year 12 and was supporting one of the students when I took a step backwards to sit down and support the student but, as it turned out, the chair wasn鈥檛 actually there. The Year 12 students were howling, understandably while I was nearly crying! Expectedly, it hurts when you fall from a stool!鈥�

Imagine it left a bruise! We appreciate you sharing that painful(ly funny) memory though! 

Final question then, if you could invite three people to your ideal dinner party who would they be?

鈥淚 have thought about this, and I apologise for the sports heavy guestlist but first it would have to be Alan Shearer.  

鈥淏eing a Newcastle United season ticket holder, there is only one man I would like to ask about scoring all those goals. It would be a dream to sit down with him.

鈥淪econd would be Tiger Woods, my sporting hero. I am a keen golfer and I have loved growing up watching Tiger Woods! 

鈥淟ast it would be Jonás Gutiérrez.  Jonás was a hero of mine and actually he was one of the reasons as to why I was so passionate about learning Spanish to start with!鈥�