Sarah started Oxford Guardians in 2009 when she was a Vice Principal in an international school in Oxford. Twelve years previously she had been a guardian to a student from Vietnam and really enjoyed the experience.  Then as the person responsible for overseeing students’ progress in her school she realised that very few guardians visited their students and were very difficult to contact.  So, she decided to set up Oxford Guardians.  Sarah views guardianship not as a ‘one size fits all’ but rather as a need to respond to each student’s different needs.  This is where the guardianship ethos of every student having their own guardian who visits regularly, attends their parents’ evening and gives the individual support that the student needs, comes from.

Sarah’s background has been in education in other countries and in the UK since she left university.  She’s lived in seven countries as well as the UK, teaching and later in management in schools, universities, the British Council and other international organisations.  She loves everything to do with education and has always been interested in the important role the student’s overall wellbeing plays in the student’s happiness, enjoyment and success at school. 

Sarah and her family attended UK boarding schools, but she would say that in the 1970s boarding schools looked a lot different to how they are now!  Nonetheless this experience together with being a young teacher in Algeria she hopes, gives her an understanding of what Oxford Guardians students may encounter when they come to the UK.