Valete

COMMUNITY

Valete! 2021

Mr Asa Willoughby

Mr Willoughby joined the Modern Foreign Languages Department in September 2019 and was immediately an influential presence throughout the school. He had an enormous impact on a wide range of staff and students, sharing his passion for a vast array of languages and their fundamental role in cultural appreciation. He also contributed enormously to the co-curricular life of the College through offering many enrichment opportunities, including Urdu and Indian dance. He has been an invaluable member of the MFL department, and we wish him well for his future working in Higher Education.

Mr Richard Grocock

Mr Grocock joined us in September 2019 as a Newly Qualified Teacher, Spanish lead and Youth Volunteering leader. Taking on such a large range of additional responsibilities was remarkable for someone new to teaching, but he took the roles in his stride, not least as a consequence of his previous professional experience. Those who have had the opportunity to work with Mr Grocock will know that he is a dedicated, incredibly supportive colleague, and a true team player. He works very hard at all times and has juggled being a second time dad alongside completing his teaching qualification. Mr Grocock has an unerringly positive attitude and he will be sorely missed by the department and the College. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours as he takes up the role of Head of Spanish at Whitgift School.

Mr Toby May

Mr May joined the Junior School in 2018 and quickly proved himself to be a wonderful form teacher. He is extremely kind and caring and goes out of his way to ensure that his pupils are supported, always taking time to listen and help in any way that he can. This also extends to his colleagues, who benefit from the warmth of his personality and his exemplary tea making skills! Mr May’s job role has evolved over the years. Whether it has been as Head of Stuart House, IPC Co-ordinator or running the Junior School Festival, Mr May has worked with dedication and commitment to the role. As Head of Stuart, he was ‘blue’ through and through, organising fantastic events which pupils have loved. No one will forget the Easter Extravaganza, where

he devised a treasure hunt around the College site, culminating in the discovery of Mr Hewlett dressed as the Easter bunny! No stranger to dressing up himself, Mr May kept his class aptly entertained during remote learning with his alter ego, Marvin the Monkey. Mr May will be greatly missed, but we wish him all the best for his next adventure in Canada.

Ms Kristi Collard

It is with a heavy heart that we bid farewell to Ms Collard at the end of this year. During her four years at the College, Ms Collard has transformed the Drama department, with her relentless energy and passion proving infectious to all who have had the pleasure of working with her. As a senior school Drama teacher, Ms Collard made it her mission to re-imagine and reinvigorate the Lower School curriculum, creating workbooks that allowed students to combine the enjoyment of performance with a sense of academic rigour. She also offered a great deal to the co-curricular programme, directing the ‘5 Day Musical,’ during the Festival each year, as well as supporting the Sports Department as a netball coach in any spare moment she could find. Always one to embrace a challenge, Ms Collard’s passion for the cognitive development of young people saw her accepting a role as a Year 3 teacher earlier this year. Her pupils have benefitted from her boundless energy and inability to accept anything less than perfection. Although she will be sadly missed, we know she is excited about the prospect of spending more time with her young family and we hope to see her again soon in her new role as a LAMDA teacher!

Miss Fiona Brown

Miss Brown joined St Dunstan’s College in September 2017 as a Year 5 Form Teacher. During her time with us, Miss Brown has contributed to College life in a huge array of different ways. As well as being an exemplary teacher, Miss Brown has shared her fantastic skills in calligraphy, netball and sewing, as part of the Forder programme. She is always willing to step forward and offer support in any aspect of life in the Junior School, and her assemblies were imaginative and inspiring. In any of her classes you can witness the excitement and engagement of children, as she tries out new and inventive ways to teach a particular topic. Miss Brown truly embodies the College value of creativity. Miss Brown helped to launch and embed the International Primary Curriculum as part of Junior School academic life. After developing this key strand of our academic curriculum, Miss Brown then took on a pastoral role as Head of Years 5 and 6, where she has ably supported children at a significant transition point as they prepare to move into the Senior School. Miss Brown, who recently became Mrs Inglis, leaves us to travel and teach abroad in Singapore. We wish her all the best for the future.

Miss Cora Marr

Miss Marr joined St Dunstan’s in 2017 and immediately made an enthusiastic impression, ready to wear the many hats she would put on for the rich and varied life of St Dunstan’s. As coordinator for the international programme, she created a vivid and holistic curriculum for our Euroasia students, supporting their full integration

into the St Dunstan’s community. She has been a key figure in the development of our English as an Additional Language provision, always putting student needs first. She has also been a valued member of the English department, enthusing students with a love of reading and creative writing. The English department will miss her organisation, good humour and efficiency. As a Year 7 form tutor, and latterly Head of Year 7, Miss Marr has been a kind mentor to her charges, always ensuring that their wellbeing was of the highest importance as they adapted to secondary school life. As Head of Hecker, Miss Marr has spurred her house on to countless successes. Known for championing staff involvement, she will be a big loss to the house spirit. On top of all this, Miss Marr has been a source of light and laughter to both staff and students, and will no doubt be a great success in any future that she explores. She will be much missed.

Ms Jenny Byrne

Ms Byrne joined St Dunstan’s in 2016 and proved herself to be an inspirational Head of History. She was ahead of the curve in developing a forward-thinking curriculum that reflects the current political landscape, while looking at the past with a fresh eye. Under her leadership, numerous improvements were made within the department, including the integration of literacy, numeracy and the archives into the curriculum, and new trips for Lower and Middle School students, as well as consistently producing strong results at GCSE and A Level. Her exemplary organisation and planning, and her successful mentoring of new staff, leave the department in a very strong position to grow and develop further. Alongside her work for the department, Ms Byrne took a keen interest in staff welfare and many have benefited from her contributions to the work of the Staff Welfare Committee. Ms Byrne has always had a keen interest in pedagogy and the world of teaching beyond History, and has decided to concentrate on this in the next phase of her career as she goes to Teach First where she will be passing on to a new generation of teachers the knowledge and experience she has gained. We wish her the very best in her future career.

Ms Claire Bird

Ms Bird joined St Dunstan’s in September 2015 and quickly established herself as a very good Teacher of Art. She supported the creative development of her students in all areas of the curriculum and encouraged them to make connections between art and the wider world. An example was the plastic pollution project she devised for her Year 7 students who used sculpture, photography, pen and ink and Barbra Kruger-inspired text to communicate their awareness about plastic pollution. Claire also took a lead in the development of sculpture within the art department, including evening workshops for KS5 students which explored a variety of processes such as building armatures and casting. Claire was also instrumental in promoting the development of photography within the art department. Students used photography to develop their ideas and compositions within their classwork and explore their ideas further through photography homework. Through running the Fashion Design workshop, Claire took a lead in the annual Fashion Show, one of the highlights of the College calendar, working with students to develop garments, wearable sculptures, and social issue statements, as well as organising the live event. She embraced the cocurricular life of the College running oversubscribed clubs such as Mexican

art, crochet for Crisis, fashion club and environmental art, and organised artwork inspired baking competitions for the College House Competition. We thank her for everything she has given to St Dunstan’s, and wish her well in the next stage of her career.

Dr David Preece

Dr Preece joined St Dunstan’s in 2015 as Head of Geography. He quickly made an impact across the whole College in setting up our virtual learning platform, Firefly, and has led the way with the Geography department’s Firefly pages ever since. His subject knowledge and passion for Geography quickly established him as an excellent teacher. Students respected his expertise and enjoyed lessons in which they were able to explore their academic curiosity. He also had an excellent record for supporting Sixth Form students in successful applications to study Geography at university. He was very generous with his support of the co-curricular life of the College, both as an active member of the CCF, and as a dedicated swimming coach. Dr Preece played an active part in the College’s Continued Professional Learning programme, always willing to share expertise with other staff and engage in conversations about different aspects of educational best practice. In recent years he has been connecting with the wider teaching network through social media and the internet and this has benefitted the College through his sharing of new ideas and theories with others, as well as the wider teaching community. He takes this focus into his new role as he takes up a position with Teach First, training new Geography teachers. We wish him the very best for his future career.

Mr Jens Apweiler

Mr Apweiler joined St Dunstan’s in 2015 as Teacher of Biology and quickly established himself as a talented teacher of the subject. His rigorous approach to teaching, learning and feedback enabled his students to make excellent progress, and he put his extraordinary subject knowledge to good use, producing weekly ‘Biology in the News’ articles for students. Mr Apweiler was always keen to further students’ understanding of Biology, both through practical work, and by organising trips for groups, which were always methodically planned and professionally delivered. He was also extremely approachable and students would often come to see him to discuss a topic or their understanding of it. Within the department he played a critical role taking responsibility for the upkeep of departmental assessment data, and as year coordinator was continually involved in updating schemes of work and assessments. He also contributed fully to the cocurricular life of the College, founding the first Wildlife Club which was instrumental in establishing the wildlife garden on the school site. He contributed to Lower School Science Club and events like STEM week with enthusiasm. As a colleague, Mr Apweiler was reliable, supportive and a great team member. We are very sorry to see him go, but wish him the very best as he relocates out of London with his young family.

Mr David Sharples

Mr Sharples joined St Dunstan’s in 2014 as Teacher of English and held various roles within the College, including a two-year stint as Head of Year 12, and, from 2017 onwards as Head of the English department. A passionate advocate for the power of

reading, he delivered a memorable Middle School assembly on Literacy in 2019 in which he stacked up three piles of books to show how much you would read in a year if you read for 5, 10 or 20 minutes every day. He was also keen to allow students the opportunity to enjoy live theatre whenever possible, leading trips such as Year 9’s visit to the Barbican to see As You Like It. Alongside his love of English literature, Mr Sharples was a keen swimmer and assisted the Head of Swimming for many years as a coach on the co-curricular swimming programme. He also played a valuable role in the College’s Tanzania project leading the trip in 2015 to build classrooms. We wish him the very best for his future career and for his relocation with his young family.

Mr Grant Armstrong

Mr Armstrong has been an invaluable member of the PE department for 9 years and will be sorely missed. Since joining the College in 2012, Mr Armstrong has shown his worth in a variety of roles, from Head of Football, to Head of Houses, Ski trip Leader, Head of Forder, and most recently Head of Year. When Mr Armstrong arrived, football did not exist below Year 10; it wasn’t a core sport and the programme was non-existent. Fastforward to today and football is thriving, with a fantastic fixture list for all students from 3–18, partnerships with Tottenham Hotspur and girls’ football all featuring in the programme. In his role as Head of Houses, Mr Armstrong rejuvenated the House System whilst also running Forder. Despite other Houses’ best efforts, Forder have been a force to be reckoned with year-on-year, thanks to Mr Armstrong’s leadership. In his role as various Heads of Year, he has also shown his ability to manage pastoral elements of the school. His high expectations paired with cheeky Northern personality have allowed him to develop a strong rapport with his students and get the best out of every single one of them. We wish him the very best of luck as he embarks on a new career, working with his wife to provide LAMDA to schools through their business, Armstrong Speech and Drama.

Mrs Catherine Long

Mrs Long became a member of the St Dunstan’s Community in January 2002, as Bursary Secretary. During her time at the College, she has supported two Bursars and a number of Bursary staff. She has been a significant member of the team through the years, and is always willing to roll up her sleeves and offer assistance to her colleagues. Good examples of this include playing a key role in the CCF (she is proud to have been the first commissioned female officer at St Dunstan’s!); stepping in to take responsibility for the Admissions and HR Departments when needed; and assisting in the Junior School Office, as International Secretary, and as Duke of Edinburgh Award Officer. Mrs Long’s impact on the College has been huge and the school is a better place because of her contribution. She has organised events such as a whole school Street Party to celebrate the Jubilee, introduced and set up ‘Elevate Education’ for the students, and she has even dabbled in the performing arts, supporting the students as the Queen of Hearts, in the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ production at the College’s very first Festival. She has the enormous task of planning the Governors’ Study Period each year, looks after all of our staff tenants and most importantly provides the Bursar with everything she could possibly need! Mrs Long will be missed greatly by all her colleagues, and we are doubly disappointed that she will be taking our favourite Chef, Tony Long, with her! Mr and Mrs Long will be greatly missed. They have both given so much to the College and we are extremely grateful.

We wish them all the luck in the world as they embark on their new adventure to the Lake District.

Mrs Susan Pearman

Mrs Pearman joined St Dunstan’s College as a teaching assistant in the Junior School in 1997, having already been an active parent member of the St Dunstan’s community. During her time working in the Junior School, Mrs Pearman has worked across many year groups, with a particular focus on improving children’s reading in the Pre-Prep. Mrs Pearman has a keen interest in literature and poetry and, as a comical poet herself, she has penned many a missive for various different staff members and events. Even the furniture has not escaped her witty verse; many staff will remember her poem about the photocopier! Mrs Pearman’s interests have provided valuable support for various school projects over the years. She has a love of history and genealogy, and has supported others in the school with researching family histories and collating family trees. Her detailed eye and proofreading skills have been invaluable in the production of many College publications. Mrs Pearman is also a keen sewist, supporting pupils to develop their sewing skills in the SDC stitchers Forder programme. Mrs Pearman makes beautiful quilts and designed a commemorative quilt to mark the 100th anniversary of the school in 1988. After 24 years of dedicated service to the Junior School and the wider St Dunstan’s community, we bid a fond farewell to Mrs Pearman and wish her all the very best for her retirement.