Our Founder | UK Virtual School

Our Founder

Syd

Meet the multi-award winning educator behind UK Virtual School: a STEM communicator, speaker, entrepreneur, and advocate for rethinking how children learn.

Meet Syd Read Her Message

13,000+ children reached

14+ years in education

STEM award-winning outreach

STEM Communicator

Public Speaker

Radio Host and Podcaster

Multi Award Winner

Serial Entrepreneur

The Poo Lady

Founder of a school built around curiosity.

UKVS began with a belief that learning can be rigorous, human, flexible, and joyful at the same time.

Portrait of Syd — **Multi-award winning educator** Founder, STEM communicator, speaker, radio host, and education entrepreneur.

A disruptive vision for education

Syd has worked with home educating families, private tutoring communities, and thousands of young learners. Her work centres on opening doors through education while questioning the parts of schooling that no longer serve children well.

Her background spans theoretical physics, applied mathematics, teaching, STEM outreach, broadcasting, public speaking, and business building. That mix gives UKVS its distinctive energy: academic confidence with room for individuality.

Growth mindset Girls in STEM Home education Question everything

Some words from our founder

A school where learning feels expansive.

Syd describes UK Virtual School as a place for families who need something different from traditional schooling: a framework where students can learn, grow, and develop a genuine appetite for discovery.

The school keeps growth mindset at its heart, inviting input from parents and children as its ideas continue to evolve.

"Grow a passion for learning."

Syd
Founder, UK Virtual School

More on Syd

A founder profile with range: STEM, speaking, radio, awards, entrepreneurship, and unforgettable science workshops.

01 / STEM

STEM communicator

With a physics and mathematics background, Syd created STEM outreach experiences to inspire future leaders through workshops, clubs, shows, and public learning.

02 / Speaker

Speaker

Syd brings science, motivation, education, and business into talks designed for curious audiences and memorable live moments.

03 / Broadcast

Radio host and podcaster

Her science radio work and podcast appearances reflect a long-running love for conversation, explanation, and making big ideas feel accessible.

04 / Awards

Award winner

Syd and her ventures have been recognised across STEM, innovation, media, education, and business categories.

05 / Builder

Serial entrepreneur

From STEM organisations to education, coaching, publishing, travel, and more, Syd builds around ideas that create momentum.

06 / Science

Memorable science

Her digestive system workshops are proudly playful, turning biology into the kind of learning children remember.

2010 Built STEM outreach experiences to inspire young learners.

100+ Science radio guests interviewed during her broadcast years.

2020 UKVS grew rapidly from an idea into a full team.

Now Continuing to evolve UKVS with families and children.

Awards and recognition

A visual snapshot of the recognition connected to UKVS and Syd's wider work.

ABCC Start-up Business of the Year award

ABCC Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion award

Connect

Speak to the team or follow Syd's work.

For press and marketing enquiries, contact [email protected]. For enrolment enquiries, contact [email protected].

Book a Meeting with Syd Enrolment Enquiry Press Enquiry

OUR FOUNDER

Syd is a multi-award winning educator with a vision to disrupt education. She has worked with over 13,000 children over the 14 years. Syd’s vision is to have an impact on the world through education – she wants to reach as many children and believes education can open up doors to a better and more fulfilled life. She is an outspoken advocate for breaking the status quo and questioning everything.

Some Words from Our Founder

“I’m really excited about UK Virtual School, what it represents and what it stands for. I’ve worked with Home Ed families for over a decade and I know there was always a need for something different to traditional schooling, a framework that allows students to learn and grow without the focus on marks and grading.

For those of you who have followed my journey over the years, you will know I am a big advocate of growth mindset. This is embedded in the core of UKVS. We are still early on in our journey – as we phase in more of our unique ideas, we are very open to input from both parents and children.

UK Virtual School is revolutionary in many ways and we hope to see you become part of our family to see your children transform and grow a passion for learning.”

MORE ON SYD

Let’s have the spotlight on Syd and explore some of the areas she is known for and some of the work she does!

Syd has a strong STEM background, having studied MSci in Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics and then later a Post Graduate Diploma in Education with Physics Specialism. She has taught Biology and Chemistry to GCSE Level and Physics, Maths and further Mathematics upto A-level standard. In 2010, Syd founded Femtinos, a STEM organisation to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders and Innovators. Through her organisation, she has delivered thousands of workshops, STEM courses, afterschool clubs and Science Shows nationally in the UK. She has been recognised through winning numerous awards for her work, including being featured in the press, such as the Metro.

In 2017, Syd took part in a public speaking course which ignited her love for speaking to large audiences. Since then, Syd has been invited to speak at multiple events on topics of Education, Motivational Speaking and Business to audience of different sizes, including audiences of over 200. Syd combines her talent as STEM Communicator into her speaking, utilising various engaging tools to create memorable speaking events. One memorable invitation included being a keynote speaker at the Day of the Dead Event around death where she used her science skills to deliver an engaging speech around the science of death.

Syd hosted a Science Radio Show for nearly two years where she interviewed guests live on her two hour weekly “Science with Syd” Show. During her radio stint, she interviewed over 100 STEM individuals ranging from reserachers, lecturers, to those representing well-known organisations. She also invited students from her workshops to be interviewed and they shared their learning to listeners. Syd’s radio show became one of the most popular shows on the station, with inundated calls every week. Syd’s love for radio has continued through her various podcasts, including the UK Virtual School Podcast. She is also regularly invited as a guest on other business and education podcasts.

Syd has won many awards both as an individual and through her businesses. This includes but is not limited to: The Creative Pioneers Award 2012, Winner of the Innovation/STEM Company of the Year 2020, Finalist for the Educational Establishment of the Year 2020, Winner of the STEM Award 2019, Winner of Outstanding Women in STEM Award 2019, Shortlisted for the Excellence in Media Award for the radio show “Science with Syd”, Nominee of the Outstanding Contribution to Children of the Year Award, Finalist for the Women Who Achieves in STEM Business and also all the UK Virtual School awards listed in the footer of this website! It’s quite a list!

Syd is a serial entrepreneur with a range of businesses. Her most well-known projects include her STEM organisation, Femtinos, which has delivered workshops and shows to over 13,000 children and families. UK Virtual School’s success from a start-up idea in June 2020, to a team of 18 staff within 5 months, is a testament to Syd’s hard work during the covid lockdowns.

Her other ventures include and are not limited to; training, business, coaching, travel, publishing and lots more! Watch this space!

Syd has come to be known as “The Poo Lady” for her workshops around the digestive system which end up with a session around creating Poo! Syd regularly, and unashamedly discusses the topic of poo, farts and all other unthinkable things. As a result, she regaurly receives fan mail consisting of images of random poo objects people have come across that remind them of her!

CONTACT

For press or marketing enquiries please email: [email protected].
For enrolment enquires: [email protected]

We’re not just any online school – We dare to be different!

We offer a flexible online British Education adapted for the modern world, catering for Year 1 to iGCSEs for Home Educating families, Expats,and World Schoolers.

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Syd