Mrs Lenox-Smith is showing me photos on her iPad of a tongue-eating fish parasite. The gruesome-looking isopod is called a cymothoa exigua. It preys on fish such as sea trout and snapper. It eats the blood vessels in the fish’s mouth causing its tongue to die and fall off, and then it attaches itself there to feast on mucus and blood. It stays in the mouth – as if it were the fish’s tongue – and breeds, sometimes until the fish dies. Then it moves on. As with many natural wonders, it is disgusting and intriguing in equal measure. If you’re lucky enough to be in one of Mrs Lenox-Smith’s Biology classes, you may well have had the chance to learn about this parasite by dissecting a fish with one in its mouth. 

“I absolutely love dissection”, Mrs Lenox-Smith says, with a beaming smile. “It’s fascinating. Biology is fascinating. There’s so much to learn and our understanding is changing all the time. It’s so important to our understanding of humans and how we evolved. Dissection is an important part of studying Biology so all students will dissect an animal heart in detail to learn how the human heart works. Oddly, the pupils are far more squeamish about the insects than they are about the hearts!”  

Important skills for life 

“Biology, and anything to do with the human body, really helps the students to understand living things, particularly around health, disease and how our bodies work. Understanding Biology helps us to understand and challenge what’s going on in the world around us, and to question sensationalised headlines or “facts” and pictures that come up on Google. It’s an important skill to separate fact from fiction. Science is based on experimentation and evidence; it is a process (more than just a subject)”. 

Looking around, the cupboards that double as whiteboards in the Biology lab show that there’s much more to a Biology lesson than dissection. The lab we are in is currently being used by A level students who are revising for their exams and there are notes on every available surface, covering all sorts of topics – from meiosis and mitosis to atherosclerosis and the Bohr shift. And, unsurprisingly, there’s a very clearly labelled diagram of a human heart. 

The value of real-world experience  

Mrs Lenox-Smith raves about her subject. She has taught Biology at LEH since 2010, joining after a twenty-year career in the pharmaceutical industry. She started out in a lab as an analytical chemist and had several roles before going on to lead a team of Medical Liaison Scientists who travelled around the UK talking to healthcare professionals about the treatment of different health conditions. All this rich, real-world experience is brought into Mrs Lenox-Smith’s Biology teaching. 

“I’ve got experience of drug clinical trials, and it can be useful to bring that into the classroom”, says Mrs Lenox-Smith. “When we talk about vaccines and the speed at which we saw the Covid vaccines come into use, it’s easy to forget that the companies have already invested decades of research to get to this point. We talk about the costs of developing new medicines and how access to medicines can be a problem in some countries. We try to look at issues from different angles.”  

Mrs Lenox-Smith remembers the TV ad that led to her deciding to train to become a teacher: “I really believe life-long learning is important. One day I saw an ad on TV that said: ‘turn your talent into teaching’. It was at a point when I was considering a change and so that’s what I did. I went back to university to get my PGCE. My first teaching job was in a state school which, again, gave me good experience. What I love about working here is that the students at LEH really want to learn. They ask the most interesting questions – sometimes quite random – but brilliant all the same; they can push you to the edge of your knowledge. Our Thirds (Year 7s) are full of curiosity and enthusiasm, and they often have a barrage of questions, which I absolutely love. It’s so good to ask ‘why?’.” 

“We have an open-door policy in Biology and it’s great when you get a visit from a student who wants to ask something or tell you about something they’ve seen. We always try to help because we want them to do well, so there is great collaboration between the pupils and teachers. We are a very supportive department, teacher-to-teacher and student-to-teacher. This is the reason why I have stayed!”. 

Biology and hosepipes  

Mrs Lenox-Smith takes a creative approach to her teaching and a box of props can often be found under her desk. “I use all sorts of things, such as a hosepipe and some copper wire mesh from my garden. It’s a good way to show how a stent is used to open up an artery.” 

“I also run Biology Plus, part of our enrichment programme with our Lower Sixth. It’s great to share what we’ve read or heard recently that’s interesting, in podcasts and journals. I’ll often come up with a topic and ask if anyone wants to look into it. A student will volunteer to research the topic and then they will share what they have learnt with the rest of the group. Super-curricular activities like this are very important and desirable for university.” 

Mrs Lenox-Smith thinks trips and exposure to what’s going on outside the classroom are also very useful in helping to develop thinking and understanding. “Most years I take a group out to Royal Holloway for Rare Disease Day where we learn about genes and inherited disease and potential new cures.  We have also been to the Wellcome Genome Campus to look at gene sequencing, and to the Cancer Research UK Barts Centre where pupils can see biologists developing innovative personalised diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic strategies. We’ve got several projects running here in collaboration with Imperial College where our pupils are actively contributing to research and carrying it out; SCAMP (Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones) is one of our current projects. It’s good to keep things varied and interesting.”  

Leading inside and outside of the lab 

Keeping things varied and trying new things is just as important to Mrs Lenox-Smith outside the lab, and another of her interests is LEH’s Combined Cadet Force (CCF), which she helps to run. “I’ve got a commission as Acting Pilot Officer and after school today I’m leading the archery. I trained as a coach and now I teach our cadets how to arch. I love seeing the different sides to our students outside the classroom, where they are pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and showing courage and leadership in different ways. It’s also really fun. I like to keep busy and to keep learning, and I don’t like doing the same thing every day, which is why teaching at LEH is great!”.  

And, if all this wasn’t enough, Mrs Lenox-Smith has another project in her sights: “Ecology is also really important. I’ve visited the Twickenham Bee-keepers Association and I’m hoping we can introduce some beehives at school. Watch this space!”. 

By Mrs Day - Director of Development and Communications

Tongue eating louse Photo credit: Efraín Octavio Aguilar Pérez