KIMICHI SCHOOL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Join Our Team
- Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead ( DDSL )
- Deputy Head, SENDCo
Chris is a passionate educator and has been at Kimichi since September 2016 where he joined as our Year 6 English and Maths teacher. Becoming Deputy Head in 2017 and SENDCo in 2019, Chris has firmly helped shape and mould the school under the stewardship of Sally and the team.
Responsibilities across the school also include Curriculum, Personal Development and specifically English. As SENDCo, Chris is committed to ensuring that all students have parity of access to the Kimichi Curriculum and that no ‘SEND' should inhibit the individual success of each child.
Committed to his own development, Chris is studying for an MA in Educational Leadership with Coventry University.
Outside of Kimichi, Chris is co-Musical Director of Birmingham Voices, a professional choir that has toured the UK with Josh Groban, Russell Watson and works regularly with BBC Songs of Praise and Raymond Gubbay Ltd.
Chris was made a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts in March 2016 and admitted as a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching in January 2023 in recognition of a significant and sustained contribution to the teaching profession. As the highest and most prestigious category of membership at the Chartered College, it is a mark of a the achievements, skills and expertise as a teaching professional.
In June 2023, Chris was made a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute as well as being internationally recognised with Chartered Manager status (CMgr, FCMI)
Job Titles:
- Head of Maths
- Head of Maths / Head of Maths
Rachel "Doc" Fowler joined Kimichi in September 2017, initially teaching mathematics. She now also teaches physics classes, connecting the tangible phenomena of our universe with the numbers and calculations that govern them!
All other members of staff receive regular safeguarding training in line with KCSIE and other emerging social issues as and when is necessary.
Maria Clemson is a SEND support teacher working with all ages of students at Kimichi, she also teaches Health and Social Care and Textiles. Maria has a BA in Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Practice, and has just started a MEd in Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties.
She has worked with children of all ages within education and with many additional needs including her own. Outside of teaching she is an avid craft person, sewing, knitting and bringing historical crafts back to life. On a weekend you will often find her in a field, camping and engaging in archery with her live role play friends.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Join Our Team
- Business Studies / Music Technology
Mr. Tom Whitehead is the Drum, Piano and one of the Music Technology teachers at Kimichi.
Like every teacher at Kimichi he has a huge passion for music and education. As well as teaching BTEC Music Technology and Business Studies, Mr. Tom also has a mild obsession with all things cars: there aren't many things he can't chew your ear off about them!
Mr. Tom started teaching at Kimichi in 2020 and is thoroughly enjoying every day he spends at Kimichi school.
Job Titles:
- Head of Sixth Form Music / Japanese
Ms Naomi Shiono teaches Music and Japanese at Kimichi School. She began teaching music at Kimichi School in October 2018 after teaching at Ark Kings as a peripatetic teacher on violin and piano. She is a freelance violinist, playing at weddings and for shows around the West Midlands with additional private tuition on the side. She is also co-leader of the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra and plays with many orchestras around the Midlands. Ms Shiono gained a music scholarship to Solihull School and commuted to lessons with Maureen Smith of the Royal College of Music. She then continued her studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama under the guidance of Elizabeth Layton.
Ms Shiono began teaching Japanese in 2019 with the idea of visiting Japan in the future. She is of Japanese origin and has a good understanding of the culture and language. She has run a Japanese Festivals project which has helped pupils in understanding the global cultural differences.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Join Our Team
- Designated Safeguarding Lead ( DSL )
- Headteacher
Sally Alexander was privately educated in Harrogate before studying Music at Durham university, and then opting to practise her skills abroad. She lived in Antigua for ten years, and whilst there was given the opportunity of starting a youth orchestra. With very few resources and little support, this grew from five pupils to thirty with a waiting list, and led to international tours and the formation of a string school. She moved back to the UK five years ago, and has spent that time pursuing her passions of education and music, completing a PGCE in 2011. Her major objective since arriving back was to start an "after school" music school, but following the completion of her PGCE she identified the fact that Birmingham was missing a school that really specialised in music. This idea broadened into creating a secondary school that specialises in music, and which has a very different ethos and way of teaching, learning and day to day running. And so Kimichi was born…
Sally has spent time in the UK teaching in a maintained school, and assisting with school music projects. She is an active member of Birmingham's musical community; performing, teaching, leading and encouraging young people to get involved. She is an avid musician, lending her skills to West Midland based groups Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. John, Sinfonia of Birmingham, Eroica Camerata, and both the Worcester and Chandos Symphony Orchestras.
Sally was awarded an MBE in Her Majesties Honours for 2021 in recognition of her Service to Education.
2023 also saw Sally obtain an MBA in Education Management from Salford University and admitted as a Fellow to the Chartered College of Teachers (FCCT) alongside her Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). It is in recognition of a significant and sustained contribution to the teaching profession. As the highest and most prestigious category of membership at the Chartered College, it is a mark of a the achievements, skills and expertise as a teaching professional.
Job Titles:
- Head of Science
- Head of Science / Head of Science / Biology / Chemistry / Geography
Siobhan King began her Kimichi journey in 2019, Miss King teaches Biology, Chemistry and Geography classes.
Outside of her specialist study areas, Miss King is a keen lover of folk music from the British Isles and beyond, and is a passionate A Capella singer and Lever (folk) Harp player! This love of folk music extends into Ceilidh and Scottish country dancing, and she is also a ceilidh caller for the Juniper ceilidh band!