AND HOW WE SUPPORT TEACHERS Through ORGANISATION, CREATIVITY AND Equity
This is about more than just teaching resources—it’s about our mission to empower educators through creative classroom organisation, art integration, and SEL strategies. A portion of every resource also supports under-resourced classrooms in the Solomon Islands.
🌻 About You
Before we talk about me, let’s talk about you.
Do you need strategies to streamline your routines and reclaim your time? Are you tired of the one-size-fits-all approach to ‘being organised’?
🤖 Take the Classroom Organisation Style Quiz and uncover whether you’re a Planner Cat, Improviser Snail, Minimalist Butterfly, or Decorator Rabbit. You’ll get a custom report and 3 classroom games to make tidiness a team effort.
📖 Read the book: A Teacher Style Guide to Classroom Organisation, now on Amazon. Discover strategies that match your teaching personality—not someone else’s Pinterest-perfect plan.
.📅 Not sure where to begin? Sign up to access our ever-growing library of FREE classroom tools and resources.
🛒 Explore the shop for creative, time-saving classroom tools
RESOURES
🌻 About Me
With 30+ years of experience as a primary teacher, principal, and lately a K-12 Art teacher, I understand the challenges teachers face. That’s why I Love To Teach 101 isn’t just about classroom organisation and creativity.
We offer a helping hand to fellow teachers in the Solomon Islands, where a portion of each sale supports practical classroom needs. This is grounded in everything I’ve learned about leading and volunteering in remote island schools.
“Imagine a shy Anglo-Caribbean girl who once struggled in school but later thrived in university; now fuelling a global mission to support teachers.”
🌻 Mood Board Resource
I created a mood board that shares more about my journey in education. Why not try it yourself? It’s great for honing down your thoughts. Start designing now!
🎨 Download my FREE Mood Board Template and Guide
📚 Create your own personal journey mood board
🤝 Use it with your students to explore their passions and teaching values
View from our back garden of Savo, the Volcano Island.
🌻 A Life-Changing Adventure
The week before we left the UK for the Solomon Islands, I was packing up my last Sunday School class. As I stacked chairs and packed up, I quietly prayed, “Lord, it would be really nice if I could teach in the Solomon Islands.”
But I didn’t think it was possible. I had no teaching degree.
In March 1986, my husband Ray and I arrived in Honiara. He began working as Director of Pharmacy with British Overseas Aid. I asked around about where I could help and was directed to Chung Wah, a Chinese School in China-Town, Honiara. 90% of its students and teachers were Solomon Islanders.
That’s how I began volunteering in a Foundation class of 72 little learners, for one hour each day.
Eventually, the Chinese school board secured a work permit for me to teach full-time. I completed a Montessori Diploma (London) with distinction and taught Foundation from 1987–1992. I also mentored Solomon Island teachers.
Those early years were foundational, for both the students and myself.
What I learned about resourcefulness during those years continues to shape everything I teach about effective classroom management today.
My Foundation Class recieving gifts from Australian friends.
🌻 Building a Brighter Future
After returning to the UK in 1992, we later emigrated to Western Australia in 1995, where I completed my Bachelor of Education with Honours.
I taught in a local primary school in Perth, for several years before we returned overseas.
In 2002, Ray and I went back to the Solomon Islands — this time as Director of Pharmacy with Australian Volunteers. Ray supported the national health system, and I brought both classroom experience and formal training to my new role in education.
We partnered with our local church to build a small primary school. They connected with a team of Christian builders, and Ray managed the construction process. He would work onsite when needed and carefully oversaw how funds were released.
The school officially opened in 2005. I served as both principal and teacher, writing policy, developing curriculum, and mentoring new teachers while continuing to teach each day. It wasn’t glamorous — the buildings were bare, supplies were limited, and construction continued for years.
In 2007, Ray completed his term with Aussie Volunteers, but we stayed on independently for another two years — continuing to serve, live simply, and support the school’s growth.
Despite the challenges, our students went on to graduate in the top 10% of the country — proof that creativity, care, and a little resilience can build something lasting.
A new primary school – a new oportunity.
🌻 Building People, Not Just Classrooms
By the time the school opened in 2005, the building was just the beginning. Classrooms were still bare. Floodwaters swept through during rainy season, often turning the path to school into a makeshift river. A drainage system had to be dug around the entire site — while classes were in full swing.
Teaching often happened alongside building the school. Some days I’d be mid-lesson when someone would burst in, “The digger’s stuck, the fuel’s gone, and we need help before it drives off for good!” These interruptions became part of the rhythm.
The teachers I was training were mostly school leavers — passionate, willing, and learning by doing. They observed my lessons then each afternoon, I held teacher training sessions along with theoretical and practical assignments to complete.
Slowly they transitioned from taking small groups in my class into leading their own classes.
A year later, four of our teachers went to Teachers College for two years and graduated top of their class. The College began sending as many of their students to us as they could. It wasn’t just a school anymore. It was a teacher training ground.
And every step of it happened with God’s grace, a white MacBook gifted to me by an American Pharmacist, and the kind of resolve only built when the work is done for something far greater than yourself.
Some of my Solomon Island Colleagues.
🌻 Empathy and Equity
After 30+ years of teaching, I’ve learned how important it is to foster creativity in our students. But that can be hard when the admin pile seems to regenerate every morning like a hydra, multiplying as fast as you clear it.
So, I created I Love To Teach 101 (ILTT) to help teachers get organised—not with rigid systems, but with flexible, creative routines that support both student learning and teacher sanity.
My goal? To help teachers stay inspired, not just stay afloat.
I’ve always been inspired by Nelson Mandela’s words “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. This ethos is in everything we do. What I believe about education’s transformative power drives every resource we create and every teacher we support.
Each resource you download supports your classroom and equips teachers in the Solomon Islands with the essentials they need.
🌻 One download. One classroom. One ripple at a time.
“You are AMAZING! Thanks so much. I did my first planner on Toddle with your video. It’s so very basic, BUT it’s a start! Thanks for all the work you put in to help us plebs! Your planners look amazing!!! I am VERY impressed.”
TEACHER — feedback on Sylvia’s Toddle Walkthrough video
🌻 Stay Connected
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🌻 Want to know how these experiences have shaped my classroom approach?
Here are a few insights about my teaching philosophy, shaped by the experiences I’ve shared from my journey.
4 Winning steps to being a professional teacher
Discover four winning steps to being a professional teacher. From classroom management to collaboration, inspire growth and organisation in your classroom.
Why not change the world through education
Why not change the world with education as Nelson Mandela’s famous quote inspires. Education is the key to changing the world. Yet many do not have it.
Shakuntala Devi
Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It’s about widening your knowledge and absorbing the truth about life.