Cheryl Fontana (née Hern)

I was educated at La Retraite Convent in Salisbury and read English Language and Literature at the University of Durham. This was followed by a PGCE in Junior and Middle Education at the University of Exeter. My first teaching job was at the Lower School at St John’s College between the years of 1981 and 1985, then under the headmastership of Brother Benet with Bob Mears the Master in Charge of the Lower School. After a varied teaching career, including a period as a Head of a Junior School, I went back to University and gained an MSc in Dyslexia and Specific Learning Difficulties at Southampton University. Graham Best then appointed me as Assistant Head of Learning Support in the Senior School in 2012 where I remained until my retirement in 2021. I thus spent two very happy periods as a member of staff at the College.

Currently, I am a Parish Councillor at Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight, volunteer in a bookshop and a museum and run a successful local book group, whilst also being a member of the OJA committee. I am a proud mother to two sons, and wife to Dominic, whose father Val was Head of Science at the College for many years.