After beginning her teaching career as a Religious Studies teacher in a Catholic Secondary School, Tracy moved schools to a large Secondary school and quickly realised her ambitions of holding responsibility around pastoral care, taking the post of Head of Year 7/Transition, one which she very proudly held and developed alongside community links and generations of local families for 10 years.

Following a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2014, Tracy was keen to look for a new challenge - a career changing moment, an epiphany!  Working as Equalities Education Team Leader, using principles based on child-focussed approaches, Tracy successfully supports both Primary and Secondary school teachers and leaders to ‘get it right’ for young people who may feel they have barriers to their education. Navigating support routes for young people who may be questioning their gender identity, sexual orientation or perhaps have a medical condition or disability, Tracy ensures inclusion and accessibility is at the core of all professional advice and guidance.

In 2016, Tracy formed part of a group of professionals who worked alongside Durham Police Force who secured a £750k Home Office grant around supporting young people who were victims and/or perpetrators of sexual harm. Tracy continues to deliver training to Designated Safeguarding Leads, Children’s Homes, Foster Carers, Secure Accommodation and Children’s Social Care on this subject, one which has grown exponentially since.

In the past 4 years Tracy has been a key link between schools, the local authority and local Police and Youth Justice Services when offering support to very vulnerable young people.  Taking the lead on harmful sexual behaviour and child exploitation, Tracy uses her clear understanding of schools’ systems, procedures, teaching strategies, behaviour management of young people to ensure risks are minimised and young people are kept in education wherever possible.

The core principle being an understanding of the safety net a school/college/education can offer and encouraging aspirations for all. Contextual Safeguarding plays a big part in understanding the needs of any young person however never more so than with a young person who is at risk of exploitation or who is the victim or perpetrator of sexual harm. Recognising that young people experience significant harm outside of their family home; that neighbourhoods, schools and the online world can feature violence and abuse and that parents and carers often have little influence over these contexts, is something which Tracy encourages all practitioners to understand and ‘MAP out’ for young people.

Tracy has participated in AIM (Assessment, Intervention, Moving On) training to support the assessment of young people who display harmful sexual behaviour and, alongside the Youth Justice Service, Tracy offers pragmatic and proportionate safety planning advice and guidance.  In order to support practitioners in this area of work, Tracy has written and developed a ‘Harmful Sexual Behaviour Toolkit’ alongside colleagues from the Youth Justice Service. In her work around child exploitation, Tracy uses her knowledge around additional SEND vulnerabilities to support practitioners and workers in planning effective interventions and liaises closely with multi-agency professionals for all young people within the local authority who are deemed to be at HIGH risk of child exploitation.  

Outside of education, Tracy is married with 2 children, a Mum first and foremost! Tracy has a passion for everything to do with travel and travel planning, always searching for adventure and opportunities to make memories with her family. Tracy enjoys interior design, in particular Scandinavian living and Hygee (pronounced hoo-gah!), creating a warm atmosphere, good friendships and enjoying the good things in life with good people!