FAREWELL AND WELCOME
A FOND
FAREWELL Tom Murphy – I first met Tom Murphy in the Autumn Term of 1996. Tom was at that stage the Head of History and Politics at Whitgift and I was a mere history teacher at in my first term here at Caterham.
A
year later Tom arrived at Caterham as Director of Studies, a position he held for the next 24
years. Tom was one of the ‘big beasts’ of the independent schools history departments in the country at the time he joined this school - he was an experienced examiner on the old London exam board ‘Syllabus E’ and his word was seen as law by those of us just making our way in the profession. His knowledge of American politics and the breadth of his historical experience was legendary – he was (and is) an academic of great standing and a fantastic teacher. I suspect would have been just as comfortable teaching Modern History at Trinity College, Oxford, as he was teaching GCSE history to a Year 10 class here at Caterham. Tom’s impact on Caterham has been profound. He joined a school that was just beginning to find its way academically and his addition was a real statement of intent from Headmaster Rob Davey. Under Tom’s guidance, expectations and rigour were heightened and results did not take long to follow. Tom can feel justifiably proud of his legacy – Caterham became an academic school under his academic leadership. However, there is so much
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more to Tom than simply intellect and a passion for History and American Politics. Tom is also a great schoolmaster. His journey to Caterham in 1997 was via Bishop’s Stortford College, where he began as a history teacher but also a games coach (Tom is a very skilled games player – squash and cricket in particular), through Wrekin College where, in addition to teaching and running the cricket and squash, he also ran a boarding house and latterly to Whitgift where he ran the History and Politics department so successfully. Tom is a man of strong passions and, consequently, strong opinions. He loves art, theatre and literature and is never afraid to explain why my love of David Hockney is misplaced. He is a runner, a bridge and chess player. The word polymath is often overused but I think with reference to Tom it is apposite. Above all else, Tom is an inspiring teacher who knows how to intellectually grab a group of pupils and leave them breathless at the end of a lesson. He sees through faddish ideas and management speak (although rarely in public for which I am grateful) but is always looking to innovate and challenge. Like all good historians (and all good teachers who have spent almost half a century
in the profession) he brings a valuable sense of perspective to educational reform and theory – and his voice in meetings is always worth hearing. This voice may at times bring a jarring dissonance to the conversation but is all the more worth listening to as a consequence. There will be many of you whose lives have been changed by Tom over the past 24 years, and who have gone on to careers in politics or public policy related careers as a result of having been taught by Tom. I suspect there are many teachers, myself included, who have also been influenced by Tom more than perhaps we realise. This is all any of us who do this job can hope for – we come into the profession due to our love of our subject and our desire to change the lives of young people. Tom has done this more than most teachers I have had the good fortune to work with. Tom Murphy will rightly be remembered as one of the founding fathers of the new Caterham School. He saw an educational project that he believed in and stuck with it for almost a quarter of a century and, in so doing, transformed the fortunes of this school and the lives of a generation of Caterhamians. Legend. CERI JONES, HEADMASTER
