Joel was born in North London, UK. He graduated with a BA (Hons) in American Studies at Edinburgh University, then went on to complete his PGCE at the Institute of Education, London in 2004. Joel spent a total of 9 years teaching across all year groups at state primary level in London, Sheffield and Hertfordshire, at schools judged “Very Good” or “Outstanding” by Ofsted. His responsibilities while working in the UK included being subject leader for PSHE, Science, Maths and being a mentor for PGCE students. He moved here to Val De Bagnes in 2013 with his young family and has been the Class Teacher of Class A and then B ever since! In 2021 he achieved the level 3 Forest School Leader qualification, allowing him to lead sessions and train teachers in Forest School sessions.

Outside of school, Joel is the proud father of two children at VIS and is a keen rock climber (bouldering) and mountain biker, having podiumed at multiple national level competitions in Enduro racing.