A teacher who knows firsthand about the pressures of the job has created a business focused on providing colleagues with a space to be inspired in.
Jordan Priestley has been teaching for 12 years and says she “chose to leave the classroom at the end of term 2 to work on my business full time”.
She describes Mrs Priestley ICT HQ, in East Tamaki, as “a space where teachers can work, come and chill out, connect with other teachers and even shop for teacher resources”.
Priestley says the enterprise “started off as a side hustle”.
It involved making freebie help guides, resources and sharing ideas in 2017, and a year later she was selling online.
“I’ve always been passionate about helping teachers, providing support, ideas and learning opportunities,” she says.
“Digital technology has also always been a huge pivot point, and helping teachers get their time back for their own lives, families and life outside of the classroom.
“I ended up creating my own maths resource, Structured Maths Approach, which launched in July 2023 to helped provide an explicit scope and sequence for teachers in New Zealand.”
As a student the born-and-bred east Aucklander attended local schools Owairoa Primary School, Farm Cove Intermediate, and Macleans College.
Mrs Priestley ICT HQ, she says, has a “fake classroom” where educators can see learning resources in action, while creating a haven where inspiration and ideas can be developed for use in their classrooms.
“It has a space for professional learning where I run PLD for teachers, principals, educators, and then it has a shop for teachers to purchase premade resources for their classroom.
“It’s a safe space for teachers to come to and utilise. There’s nothing out there currently like this for teachers.”
Priestley says the opening on July 25 was “a great event” that attracted teachers from across Auckland.
“I’m really proud of the growth of the business, scaling over 120 per cent increase in one year, taking it on full-time and continuing to provide high-quality resources, even hiring my first employee last year to help create and ship the resources.
“Being my own boss is everything. I have wanted to be able to continue to support teachers in a different capacity and be able to travel around New Zealand and overseas to continue to share and do what I love and brings me so much joy.”
For more information, see www.mrspriestleyict.com.
