Mrs M. Barker Cert HE

Swimming Coach

"I was originally trained as a Practice and Maternity Nurse and worked for GP practices, private homes and the NHS for 15 years.  However, I decided to change career and having joined Thornlow in April 2008 I have enjoyed several roles as Learning Support Assistant, Housemistress in the Boarding House and Swimming Coach.          

My parents ‘brought me up’ in a Swimming Pool and I used to swim competitively, play Waterpolo and I was a synchronized swimmer on a National level. I gained my Senior Swimming Instructor Diploma in 1990 and have been teaching swimming ever since.

As a family we like sailing in our yacht called Flair II, skiing, horse riding and walking. My family comprises Bill, my husband and my two children, Sam, who has just finished College and Anna who is in 6th form.

I was born and raised in Amsterdam, Holland, and visit my lovely Dutch family on a regular basis. Having fallen in love with England, when I worked as an Au Pair in Canterbury in the 1980s, I emigrated to Kent in 1990.  I married my husband Bill in a windmill in Amsterdam and moved to Dorset in 1992 to run a Sailing School.

Working with children is my great passion and so I have now also set up my own business as a Childminder and babysitter and run it from my own home. I still enjoy ongoing studies at the Open University where I am working to gain my teaching qualifications."