About Kate Winter, Specialist Teacher

Kate Winter currently works as a tutor (mentor) for Minerva’s Virtual Academy (MVA), which she does alongside her private one-to-one specialist teaching. She teaches and supports children aged 5 to 18 with dyslexia and Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs) including Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), dyspraxia and dyscalculia. Kate is also experienced in supporting children with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), ARIF (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), ESBA (Emotional School Based Avoidance), anxiety and depression.

Kate has been teaching for over 15 years and has previously worked in London as a classroom and one-to-one teacher at King’s College School (Wimbledon), Northcote Lodge School (Wandsworth), Wetherby School (Notting Hill Gate) and Eaton House School (Belgravia). During her teacher training she has worked at The Holy Cross RC School (Fulham), Christ C of E School (Brixton), Fairley House School (Lambeth), Waverley Abbey C of E School (Surrey) and All Saints Infant School (Surrey).

Kate gained Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in November 2011 while working as a teacher at Wetherby School. She completed her NQT year at Eaton House School. She then returned to Wetherby School where she completed a diploma (OCR L5) in dyslexia and SpLDs at the Helen Arkell Centre for Dyslexia (Surrey) in 2017. Kate also has a MA (Hons) in Religious Studies with Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh.

Background

Teaching, supporting and nurturing children and young adults with Special Educational Needs and Difficulties (SEND) and Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs is a deep-rooted passion of Kate’s.

This interest dates back to 1998 when she worked as a teacher at Itigo Girls School, a secondary school in the Rift Valley in Kenya and then at a primary school in the Maasai Mara, also in Kenya. There, she taught African children how to speak, read and write in English, largely by using multi-sensory teaching methods (e.g. song, dance, drawing, painting and play).

The experience opened Kate’s eyes to a whole new way of teaching and learning. Three years later, while studying at the University of Edinburgh, she was offered a part-time job working with two teenage girls who had Cerebral Palsy. She would take them individually on trips around the city in their wheelchairs and teach them life-skills. Kate learnt a great deal about SEMH during this time.

While at university, during the summer holidays (1999), Kate travelled to Zanzibar in Tanzania to take part in a voluntary project to build a classroom at a nursery school on the east coast of the island. Inspired by this humanitarian work, the following year, she travelled to India where she helped supervise volunteer placements and set up new ones with partner NGOs, travelling extensively across the subcontinent.

Later (in 2001 and 2002) based in Northern Ireland (on Rathlin Island) and in the Scottish Highlands, Kate helped assess, train and prepare groups of young men and women (aged between 17 to 25) for expeditions to Sub Saharan Africa and Latin America.

The above experiences taught Kate a great deal about teaching, learning, education and grassroot organisations in general.

About Kate Chambré, Journalist

Before entering the professional world of education, Kate worked for several years as a news reporter largely based in Ireland. As a journalist (under the byline Kate Chambré) she wrote news stories and features (travel and human interest), regularly contributing to national papers and magazines. Kate began her career as a reporter for the Donegal Democrat and People’s Press, then worked for the Letterkenny Post and Donegal Post before moving to the (Irish) Daily Mail in Dublin followed by the (Ulster) News Letter in Belfast.

Kate has also worked as a north-west of Ireland weekend news reporter for Highland Radio News and contributed regular news reports to Today 100 – 102 FM.

Kate continues to write (as a freelancer) and incorporates the invaluable skills she gained during her time as a staff news reporter into her teaching on a daily basis.

About Kate Winter (Chambré) Art

Kate enjoys painting, drawing and being creative in her spare time. Visit @winterchambreart on Instagram to view her work.

If you would like to get in touch with Kate, please feel free to contact her.