Author: Zoe Gater

Teacher by day and ceramic artist by night… Kayleigh Scotcher reflects on becoming a quarter-finalist on The Great Pottery Throwdown on Channel 4.

When local teacher and ceramic artist Kayleigh Scotcher walked into the famous pottery workshop for the first time on The Great Pottery Throw Down, it felt dreamlike.

“It was the most exciting feeling stepping into Gladstone for the first time,” says Kayleigh who is head of art at Manor Preparatory School in Abingdon. “It felt very surreal too – a million thoughts racing through my head. I kept thinking about all the brilliant potters before me and the history the place holds.”

Filming for the hit show takes place at the atmospheric Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent, and for Kayleigh the setting was just as magical as it appears on screen. “It was so much bigger than I imagined – almost like a movie set from a period drama… The cobbled stones, the bottle kilns, the little plants growing in the brickwork… I even remember watching a purple sunset with a bat flying between the kilns and thinking how lucky I was to be there.”

Despite the excitement, the reality of working under TV pressure quickly hit. “The first week was bonkers,” she adds. “You’re surrounded by cameras, new people, new equipment – and there’s no clock. I was on the wheel and my leg was shaking, then my lip started shaking when people spoke to me. I felt like Elvis Presley!”

Kayleigh first discovered pottery after teacher training, enrolling in evening classes and quickly became hooked.

With a background in fine art, she found clay offered something different.

“For me, clay allows you to slow down and be patient,” she says. “It also teaches you that control isn’t always possible with this material.” Her work often draws inspiration from nature, folklore and storytelling.

One favourite piece – a bottle vase topped with a character head – was inspired by the ancient wassailing tradition of blessing apple trees for a good harvest. “I called him my apple tree man,” she says. “I remember thinking while making him that this kind of work makes me happiest. He sits on the highest shelf in my bedroom and I’ll never part with him.”

Balancing teaching by day with pottery by night isn’t always easy, but Kayleigh says the creative outlet is invaluable. She attends a community studio once a week and also has a small home workspace, with plans to convert her garage into a proper studio next year.

The experience of filming has also left her with something unexpected: a close-knit group of fellow potters.

“We’re all completely mad,” she laughs. “We got on so well from the start. We still have a busy WhatsApp group and share ideas and chats all the time. We went through something really special together.”

And as for pottery dreams? Kayleigh doesn’t hesitate: “I would love to make something for Grayson Perry. That would be the ultimate.”

For more information, visit kayleighopottery.co.uk or follow @kayleighopottery on Instagram.