ECPS Hall of Fame - Where will you end up?

Have you ever wondered what you will be and where you will go when you grow up? Well, this section of our website is here to show you what is possible if you work hard, think big, stay determined and follow your dreams. We hope you enjoy finding out about where pupils who used to come to this school just like you have ended up and what they have done with their lives. From these stories you will see that success comes in many forms and is not just about academic success. All of these people have worked hard and showed resilience and determination. I wonder if your story will be in our hall of fame someday?

Dr Mark Mierzwinski: 

Mark attended ECPS in 1990-1997 and was an average pupil who loved sport, captaining the school football team. He continued to be sporty and represented Nottingham Forest Football Club and Yorkshire Cricket Club, leaving school at 16 to pursue a career as a professional football.  

Failing to achieve this dream, he scraped into university at 21 to discover a love for learning he never knew existed. After a rocky start, he achieved a first-class degree and gained a Masters scholarship at Loughborough University. He started lecturing in 2011 and is now a Senior Lecturer and Learning and Teaching Lead in the School of Science, Technology and Health.  

Over the last 10 years he has taught 1000s of students, travelled to many countries to present research and visit worthy causes, such as the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed in Bangladesh. He currently works with surgeons at York Hospital who specialise in complex hernias and is conducting research on bullying and gambling. 

Mark has  fond memories of ECPS, in his reception class nativity he played Joseph, and ended up marrying the girl who played Mary 25 years later. He learned to read, write and make friends here. As one of only three boys with a long, different and strange last name, he found ECPS to be a friendly and inclusive learning environment.

Mark's advice would be to chase a dream, work hard and if it doesn't happen, dust yourself off and chase a new one. It is never too late to develop a love of learning. 

Leah and Joe Maitland - Sister and Brother:

Leah attended ECPS between 1984 and 1990 and remembers her time here and the teaching staff with great affection. From this school she went to Easingwold Secondary School where she developed a love of literature, singing, and foreign languages. She left in 1997 with A levels in French, German, English Literature and General Studies. She took an MA (Hons) in Modern European Languages (French and German) at Edinburgh University and was awarded a 2:1 with distinction in oral French. 

After graduating from Edinburgh, Leah worked for a year as a language assistant at the University of Metz in France before undertaking an MA in Interpreting and Translation at Bradford University. From there she moved to Brussels where she worked as an interpreter and translator. Leah moved to Berlin in 2016, where she worked as an English Language Tutor at the University of Potsdam.

Leah returned to England in 2019 to join her partner in York. She now combines being an English Language Tutor at the University of York with looking after their young daughter. 

Joe attended the school between 1985 and 1991 and remembers his time there and the teachers with great affection. He still has friends from his time here even though they all live in different parts of the country. From this school he went to Easingwold Secondary School where he developed a love of singing, drama, debating, and sport. He left school in 1998 with A levels in English Literature, French, Religious Studies and General Studies. He took a BA (Hons) in Philosophy at Sheffield University and was awarded a 2:1 and a Post Graduate Diploma in Law (law conversion course) at the College of Law in York which he passed with distinction.

Joe is now a Partner at Addleshaw Goddard, one of the UK’s leading law firms where he applies a broad range of expertise across all manner of property transactions, but mainly in development, retail, housing and transport-led regeneration projects.

Joe lives in Naburn with his wife and two daughters. In his spare time, he is still sports mad, is a governor of a primary school in York, and enjoys foreign holidays, especially to Italy.

James Combe: 

James Combe joined ECPS when he was in Year 6 in 2010. He then moved on to Easingwold Secondary School and got top A Level results. His hard work and study got him a place at the University of Cambridge studying Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic history. James graduated in 2021 with a first class degree and because he achieved the highest marks possible, he was awarded an honorary Bachelor's Scholarship Award. 

James is now studying at Durham University to become a history teacher and during the week he is going into a school to teach. Here he is in his graduation photo. 

Julie Cater: 

Julie grew up on a farm just outside Easingwold and attended Easingwold Primary followed by Easingwold Secondary. She was a shy little girl at primary school but loved the fact there was a swimming pool here! 

Julie wasn’t a huge fan of school preferring to be at home on the farm or swimming. She was also not particularly academic until she got to university. She didn't quite get the grades she needed for university but didn't let that put her off and she made sure she did a brilliant job with her interview. 

Whilst at secondary school, Julie continued to enjoy swimming and diving and became both a lifeguard and a swimming teacher in York. 

Julie was inspired by local historic buildings such as Castle Howard and went on to the University of Northumbria at Newcastle and attained a 2:1 degree in Building Surveying. She spent a year in industry and worked for a company in Newcastle. She went on to work in Leeds and achieved professional status as a Chartered Building Surveyor at the age of 24.  She then joined a company in York until 2018.  During her time there, she studied for a post-graduate in building conservation and later became accredited in Historic Building Conservation with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. 

The best parts of her job on historic buildings have included being able to study conservation in Italy and see many wonderful buildings around the world, including standing on the domes of Castle Howard! 

A shy little girl became a strong woman, working in male dominated worlds of construction and manufacturing in a time when there were few female role models.  It has been thoroughly enjoyable and worth all of her hard work and determination. 

Julie still lives locally with her husband and children and they have just set up their own manufacturing business. 

Andrew Muir:

After Primary School Andrew attended school in York and then went to Lancaster University to study Mechanical Engineering. During this time, he joined the Territorial Army and following graduation joined the Royal Navy as a Marine Engineering Officer completing officer training at Britannia Royal Naval College in Devon. After 18 years, he is still serving and loving the variety and opportunities that it gives him to travel and work with lots of different people.

During his time in the Royal Navy, he has served as an engineer on destroyers, frigates, aircraft carriers and ocean survey vessels and has been deployed all around the world to places including the Arctic, North America, the Gulf and the Far East.

When he has not been working onboard ships, he has enjoyed various jobs based ashore and had the opportunity to live in New Zealand for 2 years teaching firefighting and damage control. Hs is currently just coming to the end of a job in Portsmouth where he has been trialling ships after they have had new engines fitted.

In the next few weeks, he is due to begin a job overseas for 6-months and whilst he will miss his family, he will still be able to stay in touch via phone calls and e-mails.

Since leaving school he has enjoyed taking part in many hobbies including mountain climbing, scuba diving and skydiving. 

Andrew is happily married to his wife Sarah and lives in Buckinghamshire; in their free time, they enjoy travel and going to the theatre in London.

Andrew has many fond memories of his time at Easingwold Primary School and made some lifelong friends who he is still in touch with. He is very proud to come from Easingwold and is hugely grateful to our school for the start that it gave him in life.

Holly and David Leese: 

Holly and David Leese met each other at Easingwold Primary School in 1997 in a shared Y5 & Y6 class and became really good friends. They stayed good friends and are now married with a family of their own. 

At school, David was interested in Maths and Physics, and Holly was interested in Art and Design. They both chose subjects that they enjoyed for our GCSEs, AS and A levels. After school, David went to Durham university to study Maths and then later did a post graduate degree at York University in Health Statistics. He has had lots of different Maths related jobs and now works for the UK Health Security Agency as a Head Analyst working on COVID data. He uses data from the pandemic to help us understand what is happening and how we can keep people safe. 

Holly went on to do an Art foundation course at The Northern School of Art, followed by a degree in Graphic Design at Northumbria University in Newcastle. She has had a few different jobs in design and now works for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as a Creative Designer. She designs campaigns that help people living in poverty in the UK. 

Whilst Holly and David are both very proud and grateful of our education and various jobs; where they think they have been most successful is in something far more important… friendships. In their opinion, it doesn’t always matter what grades you get, what job you have or how much money you earn. What matters most is friendship and the connections you have with others, be that friends, family, colleagues, or people in your community. If you are always kind to the people you meet along the way you will be far more successful in many ways! 

These pictures show Holly and David at ECPs and as they are now. 

Sally Taylor: 

Sally attended Easingwold Primary school 1973-1979. She left secondary school in 1985. Without attending university, she had several jobs until settling in Banking. Starting at Nationwide building society age 22 and finishing at the Yorkshire building society age 46.

Sally's life changed on 25th January 2014. Her daughter died after a car accident. William her son attended King James School. William failed his first year of A-levels, re sat the entire year, then went on to pass & gain a university place to read paramedic science. William is now a qualified paramedic in his 3rd year working for North Yorkshire Paramedics.

William & Sally  share a love of swimming. Sally's began at Easingwold Primary School. Even though the outdoor pool was freezing, she used to love swim days. William's Headteacher encouraged William to enter a triathlon to have a different focus. Supporting William at his first triathlon only 6 months after losing his sister was very moving for Sally. 

Sally retrained as a swimming teacher. She has been teaching swimming lessons for 5 years now and couldn’t be happier & it’s so rewarding.

Sally has completed triathlons, 10k swims and run a marathon raising money for different charities. 

Her daughter would have celebrated her 30th birthday on 11th July 2021. She wanted to mark this occasion with her ultimate goal to become an IRONMAN!!!

15 months of endless training hours and a coach that kept her on target the day finally arrived.

July 4th 2021 Ironman UK Bolton
2.4 miles swim
112 mile bike
26.2 mile run
Finished 15hrs 48mins 59 secs - Smashed it!!! 
Sally hopes that her sporting success will encourage other students. She believes that it’s so good for mental well-being to participate in any sport.

Spencer Brown: 

Spencer came to ECPS for years 5 and 6 in2002-2004 and went on to Easingwold Secondary School from 2004–11. After that, he studied at Durham University, the University of York and the University of Pennsylvania. The latter was funded by a Thouron Award Scholarship, which is a prestigious graduate exchange programme between the UK and the USA.

Spencer is now a writer and editor and recently released a novel and a poetry collection. His love of reading and writing has taken him around the world on many adventures!