Staff Leavers

Barbara Cederholm

Mrs Cederholm initially started working on the Birkenhead School campus using her room in McAllester as a base for Dyslexia Institute.

In 2008 she then joined the teaching staff to support Ms Smeaton, then SENDCo, in offering bespoke 1:1 lessons to support the learning of students with dyslexia. Her students benefited from many varied years of teaching experience and her absolute dedication to their progress in overcoming the difficulties they faced. It is clear that her lessons instilled lifelong skills in her students. James Mitchell who left in 2015 for University was delighted to know on a visit to campus related to his work for GLOD in 2019 that Mrs Cederholm was still teaching here. He said to me, "I use what she taught me every single day when I am preparing and delivering my sessions".

Current students were asked for memories of her lessons and this is what they had to say:

“Mrs Cederholm’s lessons were fun and taught me a lot, especially long multiplication” Jacob Fowler “I know it has been a long three years helping me as your student but I have really appreciated the effort and knowledge you have shared with me. I wish you a happy retirement” Henry Christian

“Thank you Mrs Cederholm for helping me through the years that I have had you. Thank you for being patient and understanding when I am learning something difficult, also thank you for helping me revise for exams aiming for me to do my best on them. I hope you have a good and happy time in retirement.” Evie Clewes.

“Mrs Cederholm was a great teacher and always made me smile. She always greeted me when I came in with a cheerful ‘Hi Henry’ and brightened my day. She helped me with maths and English and taught me lessons that I will never forget. I miss Mrs Cederholm.” Henry W-Roberts

“Mrs Cederholm taught me lots of great stuff and she is such a good teacher. I had lots of good lessons with her and I learnt so much new stuff. Thank you so much for teaching me and being a great teacher.” Rachel Hughes

As a colleague, Mrs Cederholm was always very welcoming and kind to all, a great person to chat to over a coffee in the staff room and hear about her family. She had continued teaching beyond the normal years of duty and only a pandemic could bring her career to a close and finally lead to her extricating herself from her Aladdin’s cave of a room.

Mrs Cederholm is highly knowledgeable and skilful when it comes to teaching phonics and she was an expert at supporting our students.

All the staff and students at Birkenhead wish you the very best for the future when the world gets back to normal and you can get further afield to do all the things you have planned.

By Mrs Oxley and Mrs Williams, SENDCo and Co-ordinator of Spanish

Annie Barsoum

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Annie Barsoum, Head of Geography, as she leaves to pursue other interests outside of education.

Under her leadership the Geography provision has been significantly bolstered, with greater student interest in the subject and geographical events outside of the classroom being particular developments. I know both staff and students will want to wish her well in this new and upcoming chapter. We look forward to hearing of her future successes and welcoming her back into School when the opportunity arises for a visit.

Jenny Ellis

Jenny leaves after almost 15 years as The Lodge Secretary to explore pastures new and to spend quality time with her son.

We will miss Jenny – her efficiency of course, but even more her kindness to everyone and her generosity in giving her time to help in whichever way she could. We wish her all the best, but hope for many visits from her and the gorgeous Joshua.

By Mrs Pankhurst, Deputy Head

Sheila Brew is among the few who have been working at School in five decades, starting in 1986, but this wasn’t the start of her association with School as her son Iain had attended from 1972.

Despite this long association, commitment and service, Sheila remains an enigma, not least because the personnel file has long since been archived. Or perhaps it has been lost to protect the innocent. In any case, it renders research of Sheila’s career more difficult, but also means that any story the Bursar makes up is harder to disprove.

Sheila began her working role at School in 1986 – a Science Technician when Professor Brian Cox was not yet even a Dream – that should read a D:Ream keyboard player. It is difficult to recall what state science was in those decades ago – gravity existed, but quarks were mere concepts that hadn’t yet been gathered into hadrons and collided.

I can imagine, however, that the state the technician’s room was most ordered, and that Mrs Brew ran a substantial part of the activities, and in a formidable fashion.

Of course, computers would hardly have occupied the full spectrum of activity and major part of our work and home lives as they currently do, consisting mainly of the Spectrum and BBC Micros at that stage. Working alongside Alan Davies, I am sure Sheila had the opportunity to embrace the computing revolution along the years, but managed to resist it quite thoroughly. I think the paid Technician role ran alongside Sheila’s position as Chair/President of the Ladies’ Committee or Group Captain of the Catering Corps or whatever the precise title was. I have spoken with Sheila a number of times, but the relationship between the Ladies’ Committee and Parent’s Association remains confusing to him, perhaps hints of the type of rollercoaster ride that the Johnson-Cummings relationship has encountered from time to time.

What is uncontestable is that, for many years, the Ladies’ Committee provided the backbone of catering at sporting events (in particular) and raised welcome funds for extras for which the School might not otherwise have budgeted. These included such things as furnishing some of the newly built Sixth Form Centre in 2011, supporting Sports and Music Tours, goalposts and other sports equipment. As well as the natural links with sports and even projects indicating Sheila’s scientific links continuing, such as the refurbishment of the pond area and the purchase of a turtle tank.

Back to paid roles at School. Sheila made the transition to become the School’s Lost Property Officer having retired as Technician in 2003. This new role also involved much mystery, such as what the link was between the number of items returned and the number of items available for the Ladies’ Committee to sell as good quality secondhand uniform at the annual Bazaar which for many years saw Sheila plying this trade.

Most will know that I had been a senior police officer for many years so I was well aware of the roles of Property Officers but hadn’t encountered one who was “Lost” before. When I did find Sheila, I was most reassured that there was someone looking after this important area, if intrigued as to how computers remained resolutely uninvolved.

IT is clear that the affection Sheila has had for the School, and her commitment to it has been naturally reciprocated by colleagues, with, for example, strong links with the Lodge part of the Administration Team. This has included concerns after a particular health scare and ongoing challenges, amplified by Covid-19 and self-isolation. Indeed, this was probably the last straw which made it clear that the Lost Property Officer role was unsustainable for her and we were glad to have a lower key leaving event for her last year.

It is fitting that, after 17 years a Technician, and 17 years a Lost Property Officer with many years of support in the Ladies’ Committee as well, we have the opportunity to recognise and thank her. Sheila will be a hard act to follow.

By Mr Turner, Bursar

Jess Cotgrave

Jess left to take up a new post after joining the Lodge Admin Team in August 2019. Jess’s enthusiasm and warmth had a lasting effect on many students, parents and staff and we wish her well with her aspirations of becoming a counsellor.

Wayne Davies

Wayne left the School in the summer after six years. Wayne was one of the School minibus drivers and ran the Neston route. Wayne was a former policeman and dog handler and had an excellent rapport with everyone. He helped develop the minibus offering and along with Rob introduced home visits to prospective families. He built excellent relationships with the children and many saw him as an extension to their family as he would pick up and drop off at the children’s homes each day. He will be missed and we wish him well as he leaves to spend more time with his grandchildren and family. By Mr Williams, Estates Manager