I gained significant experience of the inner workings of government and dealing at extremely senior political levels, in roles as Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary, and then setting up and running a private office for a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. These roles required a very strong work ethic for long, intense hours and an ability to tactfully defuse conflict between Ministers and civil servants. This followed a period of working in policy on a team designing a new funding formula for schools, focusing on clear and sympathetic discussions about the funding formula with head teachers and school business managers.
I also taught maths for two years in a very academic independent secondary school (James Allen's Girls' Schools), specialising in children who found maths less easy than other subjects.
