School Alumni

Hi, my name is Rory Hyde and I am the current Head of Sixth Form at Hedingham School & Sixth Form. My family moved to Sible Hedingham in 1987 before moving to the wonderful village of Toppesfield. I was a student at Hedingham between 1990 and 1997 where I studied for both my GCSEs and A levels. I loved my time at Hedingham and made a number of friendships which continue to this day.

After finishing my A levels, I attended the University of Worcester where I gained a degree in Media and Cultural Studies. I absolutely loved uni and had the most amazing 3 years in Worcester.

After university I spent time backpacking around Europe with a friend which was an incredible experience and something I encourage my own students to do. Upon returning from travelling and having finished uni I needed to start to think about a career but wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. I had a number of part time jobs but nothing that inspired me as a career. I then saw an advert in the local paper for a Sixth Form Support Assistant at Hedingham which I thought might be a job that would tide me over until I worked out what I wanted to do with my life! I was lucky enough to get the job and started here in September 2003. I loved the job straight away and really enjoyed working with students helping them prepare for their exams and starting to think about their next steps. I was lucky enough to work for the incredible Julie Bartrop who was Head of Sixth Form at the time and she encouraged me to think about teaching as a career, there was just the small issue of getting my Maths GCSE at C grade and passing the maths skills test to qualify as a teacher to worry about! Thanks to the support of numerous people in the school, particular thanks to Mrs Goodwin! I passed both (eventually!) and was accepted onto a Graduate Teaching Programme and qualified as a Media teacher.

After a few years of teaching GCSE and A level Media I was appointed Head of Media before taking up my current position as Head of Sixth Form, which I think is the best job in the world (apart from being a professional footballer for Ipswich!) I love the fact that I get to work with brilliant young people everyday and help them to achieve their ambitions and my favourite day of the year is always A level results day when you get to the see the result of all that hard work. I am now in my 20th year at Hedingham (yes that is a very long time!) and I still love it here, I get to work with brilliant and inspirational teachers and amazing students.

Outside of school I live in Sudbury with my wife and 2 children and spend an unhealthy amount of time obsessing about Ipswich Town Football Club.