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My time at Churcher’s Al Saralis (1997 - 2020)
I joined Churcher’s as Head of Art & Design during Easter 1997 after leaving Eggar’s School. I was looking for a change and a new ‘project’. Churcher’s was just that. The Art Department at the time was small and was situated in the old music block. The facilities were basic. There was one room upstairs and one ceramics room downstairs and the staffing consisted of me and one other. I remember that there was only one student doing Art in the U6 and he was not timetabled, but came in when he could. I realised then that this needed changing a lot and that the Dept desperately needed a higher profile within the College. I remember just after I first joined, being invited by Bedales’ HOD to look around the Dept there. I was
impressed but also felt a sense of envy. It was a Tuesday afternoon and I remember coming back to my room at Churcher’s and deciding then and there that I was eventually going to, at least, match the quality of work and sense of achievement that they had established there. It was one of those ‘moments’ that I have never forgotten. When the new Science block was built a few years later I had the opportunity to move the Dept to the current block that it now occupies, which was previously the old Science block. This provided the additional space that I needed to advance the Dept and improve the facilities. The main difference I found from teaching
in the state school was that there was more money available if one could justify it. As results improved and numbers doing Art increased there was certainly a need for better facilities and more space. After Simon Williams became Headmaster, he sanctioned an extension to the block with what is now the U6 studio. Simon has always been supportive and shown a real interest in what the students in the Art Dept were doing. The Dept went from strength to strength and as the quality of work increased so did the numbers opting to do it. With this increase we were able to also increase the members of staff and when I left the Dept in 2020 I had a talented
