Former England rugby World Cup winner takes on first headship at Braywood

A former England rugby World Cup winner turned teacher said the step up into her first headship role has been ‘brilliant’.

In 1994, Annie Cole was part of the England women’s rugby team who tasted glory after beating USA in the World Cup final in Edinburgh.

Annie turned to teaching almost 20 years ago, having previously balanced her work alongside playing rugby.

This September she took on her first headteacher role at Braywood CE First School in Oakley Green.

She said: “I think I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, [I’ve] always enjoyed watching children grow and learn and have that love for learning that I have myself, that passion.

“I actually graduated from university with a degree in Applied Chemistry and worked in the industry but was playing rugby.”

The 58-year-old said she played rugby for more than 20 years, having had a love for all sports since childhood.

“I played many different sports as a child, and then I was asked by a local rugby club to play for them because I guess I was just good at sport,” Annie said.

“I got hooked on rugby and that became my real passion – that was my main sport that I focused on in the end.”

Winning the World Cup was an ‘amazing achievement’, and it was a ‘real privilege to be able to play and travel with the sport’, she added.

Annie played for teams including Saracens and Henley.

Over the years, the Marlow Bottom resident has worked at British Alcan and was a stay-at-home mum for a period, before going into teaching.

Annie completed her teacher training at Burford School in Marlow Bottom, before moving on to teach for ‘many years’ at Chalfont St Peter CofE Academy in Gerrards Cross.

She then moved to Larchfield Primary and Nursery School where she was deputy headteacher for around nine years, before taking on the headship at Braywood.

Taking on her first headteacher role has been ‘brilliant’ and the World Cup winner said her time as a rugby player has taught her several transferable skills including perseverance, patience, resilience and ‘celebrating the small wins’.

Braywood is ‘such a welcoming community’, Annie said, adding that she loves the ethos of the school and the ‘values it holds dear’.

“I’ve really enjoyed stepping up. Everybody’s been really welcoming here,” she added.

“The parents and the community have been amazing, really supportive.”

Since taking on the role, Annie introduced a new initiative which saw the school hold its first Harvest line-up.

She said: “We challenged each class to bring in some donations for Windsor Foodshare, and we did it as a competition to see which class would be able to create the longest line of food. Which they hadn’t done here before, so it was a new initiative.”

On Monday, the school held an assembly in the playground where pupils built their line and displayed their ‘incredible’ number of food donations.

The school has collected 106 metres of food in total for Windsor Foodshare.

Another initiative Annie has brought in is allowing pupils to come into school in their PE kit on the day they have PE. The school still has places available at the Acorn Nursery, which is integrated with Braywood.

“One of my key things this year is to integrate them as part of the community,” Annie added.

The team are also looking at their curriculum and building on ‘all the solid foundations we have here’.