Name: Peter Cantley

Age: 42

School/position: Canon Slade School, deputy headteacher, director of 14-19 education, teacher of religious studies and philosophy and ethics.

Family: I am married and have three daughters aged 13, five and one.

Education: Manchester Grammar School and Warwick University.

Something readers should know: I am a lifelong Manchester City supporter.

What or who encouraged you to choose teaching as a career? When I was a sixth-former, I helped out at a summer holiday club for children and later became involved in leading a youth group for younger teenagers; that was really where my interest in teaching began.

What has been your most satisfying moment in the classroom? There have been too many to mention — working with students who want to be the best that they can be and helping them to learn is incredibly rewarding. I have also been fortunate in having had the opportunity to lead some study tours to Israel, which have been particularly memorable.

What are you looking forward to this year? I am looking forward to teaching a new philosophy and ethics syllabus at AS level, and to helping our sixth-formers with their applications for university, as well as coaching the sixth-form football team — we won the Mackereth Cup last year and are progressing well in the English Schools FA Cup this year.

What do you enjoy about teaching? I enjoy discussing issues with young people which really matter, like abortion, euthanasia, racism and world poverty, because I believe the young people of today have it within them to make the world a better place than the one they inherited. I think that is the most important thing about teaching — equipping young people to make the world a better place.