Staff Leavers

Richard Summers

Richard has been part of the Hymers community for 33 years. He joined the Biology department in September 1989 after a spell at Droitwich School. He was employed as a biology teacher and has taught thousands of students over his time, including a number of people who now work in the school. For a number of years Richard has been tasked with teaching much of the practical assessment work in Year 13, this is a great responsibility and he ensures that our students leave Hymers ready to take on the challenge of working independently in the labs at university.

Richard’s biological niche is ecology and he has been a stalwart of the field trip – over his 33 years he has clocked up too many to count, we estimate over 100 visits to the Cranedale Centre and another 100 to Filey Brigg, he will certainly have noticed the changes in the East Coast landscape. Over the years he has also supported many school excursions outside of the biology department, including trips to Iceland, America and France. Richard was not satisfied with just teaching biology and threw himself in to so many different activities. He was an excellent Head of Year in the early 2000’s and also led the PSHE department. Richard enjoys studying and over the years has become qualified to perform a number of learning support tests with the students, he was responsible for the learning support department in the school until very

Paul Meadway

Mr Paul Meadway joined the chemistry department at Hymers 30 years ago from Wolfreton school. In addition to being an outstanding chemistry teacher, Mr Meadway has made a huge contribution to the co-curricular life of the school, in particular on the sports pitches. He has a great love of rugby and cricket and he

Marion Riley

Mrs Marion Riley first started work at Hymers as a singing teacher in 1996. In her 26 years at Hymers she has been an inspiration to generations of pupils, laying the foundations for many of them to go on to pursue professional careers in the performing arts. But beyond that, she has been the catalyst for even more of her protégées to recently and continued to carry out the testing until his retirement. More recently he has gained a theology degree and became licensed in the Church of England, and I know he will be able to spend more time with the church community when he retires. We have been grateful for his spiritual guidance during recent years.

A huge part of Richard’s time at Hymers, and perhaps his legacy, will be the Army Cadet Force. As a young officer in the Territorial Army he started the Army Cadet Force in 1991 – this academic year was the detachment’s 30th anniversary. He has had a number of leadership roles within the ACF – Staff Officer, Company Commander and Adjutant to name a few and during many of these postings he continued to run Hymers as a Detachment Commander. He also spent nearly a decade selecting ACF officers at Westbury and then supporting their development as Second Lieutenants through courses at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Around 15% of Hymers Cadets have gone on to have successful careers in the forces, with many going through RMA Sandhurst themselves. Students at Hymers gain much from belonging to the ACF, including confidence, resilience, self-awareness and determination, as well as having the opportunity to teach younger students. It has been one of the great opportunities at Hymers and it is testament to Richard. It is fitting that his eldest daughter, Alex has taken over responsibility for the detachment keeping the Summers name involved.

Richard also introduced Archery to the school in the mid 2000s. He set up an archery club that ran on a Friday after school and impressed the students with his ability to shoot the longbow the length of the junior school field. In more recent years he also used this skill to teach the Year 7 students when they completed follow up work after their visit to Warwick Castle.

He has been a very busy man, as well as everything I have already mentioned he has also worked with St John Ambulance and set up the Duke of Edinburgh programme at Hymers, from just a few students, and developed it into the hugely successful activity it is today, with a number of students going on to receive their Gold award.

Richard has been a truly committed Hymers teacher, and a support to staff as well as students, he was Chairman of the Senior Common Room and a regular at the Friday morning breakfast club. To replace him we will need, a biology teacher, a learning support tester, a Duke of Edinburgh leader, an Army Cadet force Captain, an archer, a first aid teacher and a Head of PSHE. I would like to thank him for all that he has contributed and for the many lives he has enriched. We hope you have a wonderful retirement. You will be leaving a Richard-shaped hole and you will be missed.

Helen Jackson

has led and accompanied ski trips and sports tours. In recent years Mr Meadway has done a brilliant job in lifting and sustaining the quality of the Careers and Higher Education provision at Hymers. He has ensured that careers advice has become embedded across the curriculum and, having worked in a number of schools, I can vouch for the fact that the level of support that Hymers Sixth Formers receive as they apply to university is second-to-none. It really is down to Mr Meadway that the Hymers Careers and Higher Education is the holder of a nationally recognised Gold award.

Justin Stanley

continue singing simply for the love of it. Mrs Riley has been a singing teacher of the highest standard and her influence has enriched the lives of all her students. We are all indebted to Mrs Riley for the wonderful music that she has helped to create.

Justin Stanley

Ian Mellor

We have been very fortunate that three years ago we managed to persuade Mr Ian Mellor to come out of retirement to work in our Geography Department. As pupils who have been lucky enough to have been taught by him know, Mr Mellor is an experienced GCSE

Tom Geary

Mr Tom Geary who joined us in 2018 will be well known to many of you, both through his outstanding work on the school’s National Citizens Service and through his support of the school’s sport, most particularly the football and cricket. As those of you who have contact with Mr Geary will know,

Fraser Hartley

Mr Fraser Hartley joined us two years ago as a Graduate Sports Assistant and quickly made a positive impression with his wholehearted and enthusiastic contribution to school life. In lockdown he established himself as Hymers’ very own Joe Wicks with his high-energy, high-impact workouts. He seemed to spend