1977-1980 Nottingham University - Degree in Civil Engineering.
1980 - 1986 Pafec Ltd Pafec Ltd is a British
company specialising in Computer-aided Engineering software. During my time at the company
we grew from around twenty people based in a house near Nottingham University to a
thriving international company with over two hundred employees and world-wide respect in
our field. 
This
meant that I had tremendous opportunities and was given a lot of responsibility. I started
off as an engineer/programmer, coding complex mathematical approximations to the dynamic
response of engineering structures. I then spent two years in Weymouth on site supporting
scientific research using Finite Element Analysis.
In 1984 I jointly set up a London office for Pafec. We were very successful marketing and supporting the DOGS Computer-aided Design system and made our office the most profitable part of the company. For my last year at Pafec I was responsible for supporting and expanding our network of international agents. This took me to most countries in Western Europe and Scandinavian as well as the States, India, Malaysia and Singapore.
Most of all working at Pafec was fun - led by the incredibly enthusiastic and astoundingly intelligent Richard Henshell.
1986-1989 Scicon Ltd a subsidiary of BP (Now part of EDS). I was head-hunted by Scicon to take responsibility for developing the business of their ailing Computer-aided Engineering group. Within three years I had turned the group around. I refocused activity away from providing a computer bureau service to high value consultancy and software development. Despite being very successful and earning a fantastic salary I wanted a new challenge.
1989-1991 Full-time Parent Probably my most difficult and rewarding job. I had two children under two and not much money.
1991-1992 Post Graduate Certificate in Education I decided for my second career I wanted to do something 'more worthwhile' than making money for a company.
1992-1996 Full time Primary School Teacher Having responsibility for teaching all subjects to 30 young children is a tremendous challenge. I learnt a lot from this period teaching in a school who's children csame from very disadvantaged backgrounds. I found I had talents I did not realise in areas like art and drama. I still used my core skills,being in turn both Maths and IT co-ordinator.
1996-Present
Teacher/ Parent /Freelance Consultant
I have had a changing balance between three roles in recent years.
Parent I have been the primary carer since 1989 and when our third daughter was born I stopped teaching to care for Lizzie and her sisters full-time. This was much easier than the first time round with Joanne and Katie in 1989 as:
being a father at home with a tiny baby, if not fully accepted, was not such an odd thing in 1996
with my elder children as evidence I did not feel so insecure about my capabilities as a parent
we had more money!
Freelance Internet Consultant In 1996 I 'went online' and started developing sites and working on internet projects with friends and contacts. One of the most interesting projects was my work with Espresso Productions. developing a digital multimedia educational package delivered by satellite to schools. I have developed sites eg www.nappies.net and worked on a consultancy basis for a number of different people (sample report).
Teacher I am currently working as the Special Needs Coordinator of a local primary school part-time. I am also studying for my MA in Education at the Open University. I find my current teaching job the most satisfying ever. I can see children developing over a period of years. I enjoy the long term partnership with parents and colleagues to try to make the education system work for 'my' children.
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