Headlines from Dr Julian Murphy

Julian Murphy, Headmaster

Clare Laing

Liz Smith

Arran Jennings

Headlines

By Dr Julian Murphy, Headmaster

The last two years have been extremely successful for Loughborough Amherst School, with our numbers of pupils rising by 40% from 208 to 291. Some of this rise has been due to our decision to open our senior school to boys from September 2019, but much of it has also been due to our growing reputation for the quality of both our academic and our pastoral provision. We hope to continue growing our pupil numbers over the next few years, although we remain committed to maintaining our unique identity as a small school with a warm family atmosphere.

Like any such success, this growth in numbers has increased our workload and, coupled with the demands of the Covid-19 pandemic, has made this year a very demanding one. I am hugely grateful to all our staff for their fantastic efforts over the last seven months. The quality of the teaching and pastoral support we provided during the lockdown over the spring and summer was excellent, and our teachers have also worked really hard to help our students through the reopening of the School. In particular, I am grateful to Grace Davies (Senior Deputy Head) and Izzy Winton (Head of Prep School), and to Polly Fender and Jo Kitchener - our heads of Years 7-8 and Years 9-11 respectively – for maintaining our outstanding quality of pastoral care during such strange times.

This summer saw the opening of the second of our two boarding houses for elite tennis players at the Loughborough University National Tennis Academy (LUNTA). I am delighted that this partnership with Loughborough University has proved so successful and hope that it is the first of many such mutually beneficial initiatives. You can read more about the LUNTA programme on page 12.

The end of this term sees us saying goodbye to three longstanding members of staff who have, each in their own way, had a great impact on Amherst and helped it become the school it is today.

Clare Laing, our Deputy Head of Prep School and Head of EYFS, is relocating to Cornwall to start a new chapter in her life. Clare has been instrumental in the improvement and growth of our Prep School during the last three years. In particular, for a six month period in 201718, before Izzy Winton was appointed as Head, Clare was Acting Head of Prep. This was a particularly difficult period, when our changes had gone far enough to appear disruptive and not yet far enough where obvious improvements were clearly visible. During the period Clare did a marvellous job of raising morale, reassuring parents and pushing positive change forward. It is not putting it too strongly to say that I will forever be in her debt for the marvellous job she did. We all wish Clare the very best for her new life in sunny Cornwall.

We are also saying goodbye to Liz Smith, who has served on our staff for 18 years as a teacher of Mathematics, the Head of Key Stage 4 and, more recently, our Head of Spiritual Life. This Christmas sees Liz moving on to pastures and adventures new after many years supporting and inspiring our young people. Liz has always brought an unusual kindness and patience to her teaching of Mathematics and many pupils down the years have benefitted from her nurturing approach. I am particularly grateful to her for the focus, vision and practicality that she has brought to bear on the task of reviving and strengthening our identity as a Catholic school. She has worked tirelessly not just to arrange masses and other acts of worship, but to provide guidance and support for every tutor group with their daily prayers and weekly spiritual life activities. We will all miss her honesty, diligence and deeply caring approach to what, for her, has undoubtedly been a vocation rather than just a job.

Last, but by no means least, we say goodbye to Arran Jennings, who is retiring this Christmas. Arran has served Amherst with utter loyalty and dedication for 19 years and his impact can really be said to be deep in the DNA of the school we have today. As Deputy Head Academic, Arran has worked tirelessly to meet the unique challenges of managing teaching and learning in a small school with sensitivity and vision. Since I came to Amherst as Head in 2016 we have been through a period of incessant and radical change, which has been challenging for everyone but particularly for members of senior leadership.