Specialisms
- Outdoors
- Agriculture
- Wildlife
- Enthusiasm
Biography
One thing is clear from Polly’s lesson and that is her passion for this subject. Polly grew up in a farming family and helping out on a sheep farm from a young age. Having always kept animals from poultry and goats to rabbits and reptiles, the connection with animals has always been strong.
From a creative family, Polly initially went on to pursue performance and dance gaining a first class degree and Masters in physical theatre performance and she went on to teach and work with small scale theatre companies for more than 10 years. But… she got bored of being inside theatres all of the time and the pull for working outside got stronger and stronger.
Polly initially worked as a sessional teacher at West Notts College from 2008 and took over on aspects of Entry Level 3 Horticulture and Animal Care projects working at a partnering farm park organisation. Following the success of these programmes under her care, Polly was given the opportunity by the college to re-train in animal care and pursue a lifelong passion to work with animals, and she seized this opportunity.
Polly’s experience working in education has supported the growth of the animal care department, increasing the team, the experience and the qualifications with it. From just an Entry Level 3 provision in 2008 we have grown the Level 1, 2 and 3 animal management programmes. Polly works across the animal care provision and is now programme area leader for the animal care department.
In her free time, Polly likes to be physically active and is a qualified yoga teacher, teaching weekly classes both in person and online, but also combining two of her loves (yoga and goats) by also teaching the novel, goat yoga at a local farm park.