Work

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Birmingham Post and Mail cuttings – January 2014

Here are some of the things I worked on at the Birmingham Post and Mail during January 2014:

8/1/14 – Ex-archbishop is first chancellor at new Birmingham university

10/1/14 – Good cuppa is the secret for Frances Crabtree as she marks 105th birthday

13/1/14 – £17,000 tribute to Ahsan, victim of horror car crash

13/1/14 – Ones to watch: 10 names in health and education to keep an eye on

16/1/14 – University of Birmingham staff strike after offer of 1% pay rise

16/1/14 – Anger over Midlands university chiefs’ salaries while staff are offered one per cent pay rise

18/1/14 – Hundreds of Birmingham parents are fined after kids miss school

19/1/14 – Aston student using own record label to protect endangered animals

21/1/14 – Ofsted awards school “outstanding” report

24/1/14 – Which of these James Turner Street houses takes your fancy? Prices start at £75,000

24/1/14 – Birmingham GCSE results: State school placed third in the UK

28/1/14 – Birmingham’s universities employ more than 10,000 people

30/1/14 – Birmingham head teacher slams “bloody shambles” of GCSE tables

31/1/14 – Birmingham “superhead” backs extended school days

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Birmingham Mail cuttings – December 2013

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Here are some of the things I worked on at the Birmingham Post and Mail during December 2013.

5/12/13 – Midlands teenagers among least likely to apply to university

6/12/13 – Students offered university slots in Birmingham based on predicted grades

10/12/13 – Fairytale ending for couple’s children’s book

12/12/13 – Birmingham schools record drop in SATs results

18/12/13 – Birmingham school celebrating fifth “outstanding” Ofsted in a row

20/12/13 – Classmates pay emotional Christmas tribute to Christina Edkins

28/12/13 – Grieving daughter: “Funeral firm lost my mum’s ashes” (FRONT PAGE)

30/12/13 – Birmingham ballet school planning major expansion

30/12/13 – Vegetarian for 28 years – and Nando’s served me up chicken

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Birmingham Mail cuttings – November 2013

Here are some of the things I worked on at the Birmingham Mail during November.

4/11/13 – Mum Zoe in the frame for national award 

4/11/13 – Anti-terror police in Birmingham praised by Islamophobia expert

6/11/13 – City head teachers launch Birmingham Education Partnership

11/11/13 – Residents fight plans for 3,000 green belt homes

12/11/13 – Pupils’ safety fears at Birmingham school rated “inadequate”

13/11/13 – £3m to give better access to top schools

15/11/13 – Man shot at his home in targeted attack

16/11/13 – Brace yourselves: winter’s first snow may be heading to Brum

16/11/13 – Soldier faces deportation over paperwork problem

19/11/13 – Snow in the air as icy blast sweeps in across Midlands

20/11/13 – Birmingham Mail reporter tells of fatal attraction that drew her to a street in Dallas

20/11/13 – Birmingham schools praised for tackling anti-gay bullies

28/11/13 – Education bosses hit out at Ofsted over music lessons

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Big news – back to journalism

This week I acted on something that has been on my mind for a long, long time.

I resigned from my Media and Communications Manager job and from September will be focusing on freelance journalism.

Ever since I left my job as a journalist on a daily regional newspaper way back in 2005, I’ve felt a hunger, a calling, to be back in that world. But for various reasons – especially marrying my husband and starting our family – it suited me to be in a more steady, safe and secure environment, with regular hours and a good salary.

Over the years I’ve had a real sense that my image of myself and my reality were diverging, and I’ve now come to the point where I want to bring them back into line.  I realised that as there would never be a right time to do it, there was no time like the present. Truly, I couldn’t not do it.

I’ve had a great response from family and friends, many of whom knew how I was feeling. One of the most touching things is that people say they are proud of me for doing it. I hope I will continue to make them proud.

I might write a bit more about this once I have finished working my notice period, but for now, I’m so excited about starting this new chapter!