Meet the Boarding Team

A boarding house is not complete without a whole host of staff to look after, care for, and manage the wellbeing of all students. We’re lucky to have some pretty phenomenal staff...

 Mrs Emma Stott
Head of Boarding and DDSL

Emma absolutely loved school as a youngster and was an extremely high achieving and gifted student. It was this experience that has propelled her into becoming fully immersed into the life of St Bees as Head of Boarding and there couldn’t be a more warm, bubbly or wonderfully kind person to oversee the everyday runnings of a busy Boarding community.

Emma, a previous county gymnast for three consecutive years, may have hung up her leotard and whilst not backflipping down the corridors, has the meticulous organisation and ability to juggle a million things at once. These are skills most certainly necessary to keep a house full of young people in check - whilst also ensuring they have fun and feel that this truly is their home from home.

Following school education, Emma worked in an established catering department before going into care work, successfully completing her Diploma in Dementia/Alzheimer’s and end-of-life care. As the Mental Health lead at St Bees, Emma is fully qualified in Safeguarding vulnerable adults and children, Deprivation of Liberties, medication administration and is familiar with the Mental Health Capacity Act.

Sadly Emma had to leave her care position with the birth of her son, Noah (frequently seen wandering around the Boarding House!) - but fortuitously became Head of Boarding in 2019. Emma is a fantastic Head of House and is absolutely thrilled to play such a vital part in each and every boarder’s experience of living away from home

Miss Leah Barton - Houseparent

After working as a swimming teacher at a local pool for four years, Leah realised that she wanted to support children with special educational needs and mental health challenges further and began training to become a teaching assistant.

Her determination and passion for our school soon led her into the boarding house where she discovered that life at St Bees School was where she belonged.  Her attention to detail, safeguarding knowledge, SEN and mental health awareness means she can create a fun, loving, understanding safe space for all students a home from home you could say.

In her spare time, Leah enjoys swimming and paddle boarding in any body of water that is safe to get in to.  From living on the coast all her life in the beautiful Lake District, Leah has a strong sense of responsibility for our planet and loves inspiring others to take care of our environment.

Miss Xinyan Chen - Teacher of Chinese & Houseparent

Miss Chen's teaching experience kicked off in a rural area of southern China, where she taught English as part of the voluntary teaching programme. Interested in education, she went on applying for MA Education, Policy and Society at King's College London. Learning online during pandemic away from home was sometimes dull and stressful, but Miss Chen enjoyed the experience where she could meet global friends and they could take care of each other where we needed. 

The role as Mandarin Language Assistant at Christ's Hospital School confirmed her idea to stay in teaching. Talking and inspiring young minds has always made her feel refreshed and fulfilled. Miss Chen is always glad to share the culture of her own and has open-ears for others, so she took a PGCE at Goldsmiths, University of London where she could be evolved in the vibrant intercultural environment again.

As a teacher who has little age gap (so far…) with students, she feels comfortable offering as much pastoral care as she can as a Houseparent too. Miss Chen believes her journey to here from all the way east can support the boarders when they need, especially those traveled long way from home like herself. 

Miss Chen enjoys the outdoor life at St Bees.  She enjoys spending time indoors too, doing embroidery while listening to podcasts.  She is a keen traveler, having traveled to 9 different European countries in 2022, both in company and alone. Having decided to settle at St Bees, she is now thinking of a furry friend...