Alumni News

In each Annual Review we will be featuring a round-up of alumni news. Please do let us know if you would like any of your news to be included here.

1950s Norah Thomas (Cer t Ed 1948–1950) is enjoying retirement in Durban, South Africa, having moved from Britain in 1955, initially to what was then Southern Rhodesia.At first she taught atWankie, where she met and married her husband, Barry, a member of the British South African Police, in 1957. She conducted a ladies’ choir and produced and directed a number of performances, including HMS Pinafore, Händel’s Messiah, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Shirley Haslam (Cer t Ed 1952–1954) is enjoying retirement after teaching for 40 years, mostly running nurseries attached to primary schools. She also set up playgroups in Yorkshire and lectured at the local Technical College. During retirement she has served on the local Parochial Church Council, as Governor of a local school, has run the local tennis club, and is enjoying being a grandmother to six children.

Audrey Huddart (Cer t Ed 1954–1956) is now a grandmother to eight grandchildren, who have enjoyed successes which she attributes at least in part to her learning the importance of education at Homerton.

Sheila Mackenzie (Cer t Ed 1954–1956) is now a grandmother to seven grandchildren. She is semi-retired, teaching 20 piano pupils and taking the occasional assembly at the local village primary school. She enjoys playing tennis regularly and is involved with both young and old in the village community.

1960s Gerald Hendrie (Cer t Ed 1962–1965) has recently had two books of his compositions published by Editions Billaudot, Paris: A Handful of Rags (five rags for piano solo) and Another Handful of Rags (ditto).A third volume, Five New Rags, is written but as yet not in press.

Olivia Dean (Cer t Ed 1965–1968) has recently retired from a career in education. Initially teaching and holding management roles in secondary schools, she then moved into management in Further Education. Throughout her career she was closely involved in the development of assessment strategies for public examinations with the Cambridge Awarding Body. She maintains an active role in education, continuing to work in an advisory capacity with two national awarding bodies and is a governor of two institutions, including the University of Derby.

1970s Karen Hindley (BEd 1978–1982) has recently retired after thirty-three years of service to state education, to spend more time with her father, David, Head of Music at Homerton from 1963 to 1985 and her mother, Olga, Music Librarian at Homerton from 1970 to 1985. However, she is still assisting in NQT induction and mentoring at a local Cambridge school a few times a week, following in her parents’ footsteps in helping teachers to teach.

1980s Rachael Williams (née Maurice-Smith) (BEd 1984–1988) is Headteacher at Holly Meadows School, and lives in Norfolk with her husband, Glyn. A recent Ofsted report praised her ‘outstanding commitment’ to the school. When not teaching, she keeps busy with various house renovation projects and daily six-mile dog walks.

Clare Tanaka (PGCE 1988–1989) has recently built an environmentally friendly house along with her husband, Kris. Both are working as full-time teachers.

1990s Steven Chapman (PGCE 1993–1994) provided the scientific exper tise behind the recently published 365 Science Activities, which has been shortlisted for the Royal Society’s 2015 ‘Young People’s Book Prize’.

Marion Durnin (PGCE 1994–1995) has recently edited a scholarly edition of Sketches of Irish Character by Mrs S. C. Hall. This volume is No. 20 in the Chawton House Library Series, Women’s Novels and it was published in July 2014 by Pickering & Chatto, London.

Work on this volume was made possible by the award of a Chawton House Fellowship from Southampton University during September and October 2013 and Chawton House Library, a truly glorious place in which to carry out research.

2000s Chris Woolf (PGCE 2000–2001) has been appointed Founding Headteacher of Pinner High School. Pinner High will open in September 2016 as a 6FE Secondary school in the London Borough of Harrow. Prior to this, Chris was Vice-Principal at The Bushey Academy, and, before this, Head of Senior School at Dulwich College, Beijing.

Laura-Jane Foley (BA History ofAr t 2001–2004) has written a play, An Evening with Lucian Freud, which recently ran in London’s West End for three weeks, in a production starring Cressida Bonas (more details on page 18).

Natalie Baxter (PGCE 2002–2003) married Damien Homden (PGCE 2008–2009) in 2010. They both work as teachers at Cavalry Primary School in March, live in Wisbech, and have two young daughters.

Thomas Savill (Biological Sciences with Education 2002–2005) married Ellen in April 2014, with the wedding reception held at Homerton.

Alexa Toy (BA Education with History 2002–2005, PGCE 2005–2006) is working as a teacher in London, and has also recently set up Teachers As Tutors (www.teachersastutors.org).This business provides after-school tuition from qualified and experienced teachers, which helps students consolidate school work, revise for exams or prepare for entrance examinations.

Jonathan Worton (BA Education with Biological Sciences 2002–2005) was recently shor tlisted for the FMC dental awards in the category “Young Dentist of the Year” as one of the top 9 young dentists in the UK.

William Brooks (PGCE 2003–2004) was recently promoted to Deputy Headteacher in a four-form entry primary school.

Lucy Parsons (PGCE 2005–2006) has recently set up a blog and website, lifemoreextraordinary.com, which shares ‘how-tos’ and motivational material to empower 15–18 year olds achieve their academic dreams. She has also published an e-book, ‘The Ten Step Guide to Acing Every Exam You Ever Take’. The book is based on the system she developed while studying for herA-Levels, and was refined

during her time working as a Geography teacher in comprehensive schools. The book is available via her website.

Marianne Starkie (née Chilvers) (PGCE 2005–2006), since leaving Homer ton, has coauthored a book (Anderson et al. (2011) AQA GCSE Design and Technology: Resistant Materials Technology, Hodder Education), and taught Design and Technology in the UK and in an international school in Dubai, setting up from the school’s opening in 2011. She also gained an MA in Educational Leadership and Management, before returning to the UK in 2015 to have some time off with her baby daughter.

George Kam Wah Mak (PhD Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 2007–2011) is now an elected Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. In 2014, he won the Society’s BarwisHolliday Award for Far Eastern Studies for his research article entitled “To Add or not to Add? The British and Foreign Bible Society’s Defence of the ‘Without Note or Comment’ Principle in Late Qing China”. His award-winning article was published in the April 2015 issue of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

James Lugton (PGCE 2008–2009) has recently joined the English Department at Wellington College, Berkshire, having previously taught at Glenalmond College, Perthshire, for four years.

2010s Rhiannon Williams (PGCE 2009–2010) took up a teaching position at Heath Mount School in Hertfordshire, teaching English, French and History, after completing her PGCE at Homerton. She was appointed Head of History and Head of Curriculum, before in 2015 becoming the Director of Studies at Heath Mount School.

Sam Lee-McCloud (PGCE 2000–2001) has recently completed an MEd in Autism (Children) at Birmingham University and will graduate in December 2015.

Lauren Weller (BA Education with English 2008–2011) has recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Agriculture at the Royal Agricultural College and now works for a small charity called Farming and Countryside Education (FACE). She manages an initiative called Countryside Classroom, which brings together the work of many organisations and individuals who are committed to ensuring that children learn about and experience food, farming and the natural environment. Countryside Classroom is a free to access online portal that pulls together high-quality resources to use in the classroom, places to visit with a class and people to ask for expert advice and support from across the UK.

The Countryside Classroom passport contains 18 challenges that will give children first-hand experience of growing their own produce, observing and caring for wildlife and tasting their own recipes, and is free to download from www. countrysideclassroom.org.uk/passport.

Poppy Damon (BA History 2011–2014) has recently been appointed Communications Officer at Na’atik, a non-profit language school in an impoverished part of the Maya zone, Mexico. Na’atik provides access to immersive language learning for disadvantaged youth in the local community through scholarships and affordable classes. Over the Christmas of 2015, she ran a fundraising campaign to raise $1,500 to support students there.You can find out more at http://www.naatikmexico.com/

Ben Jones (BA Politics, Psychology and Sociology 2011–2014) this year became the first person to cycle the length of Cuba. His 36-day journey aimed to raise awareness of dyspraxia. More details on page 22.

Henry Fieldman (MPhil Education and Psychology 2012–2013) coxed the Great Britain Men’s Coxed Pair to victory in the World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France in 2015. Earlier in 2015, he coxed the Great Britain Men’s Eight to gold at the second World Cup event inVarese, Italy.At the final World Cup event in Lucerne he coxed the Men’s Coxed Pair and won gold again.

Ronald Balzan (MEd 2012–2015) recently began a PhD in Experimental Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London.

Jonathan Poward (PGCE 2014–2015) is currently working as a full-time Geography teacher, after returning from the Charter Choir’s tour of Monaco. He intends to return to Homerton to complete his Masters after his NQT year.

Ashleigh Tutchener (PGCE 2014–2015) has

recently begun working as a teacher at the

University of Cambridge Primary School n

Golden Girls at the Alumni Reunion Weekend.

Diamond Girls at the Alumni Reunion Weekend.