Valete

Mr John Darmody

When John asked me to say a few words at his farewell ‘do’, I felt hugely honoured.

I pondered on our friendship and concluded that we get on because fundamentally we both hate the same things!! Especially Newcastle United. Remember that a true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.

We are saying farewell to John after fourteen years; but John is actually retiring from front-line teaching after 43 years, 34 of those as a head of department. From Jarrow to Gateshead, from St Bees to Fettes, and finally to St Peter’s. John has been not just a teacher of art, but also a real inspiration to his students and colleagues. As the great American Journalist Dan Rather once said,

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘truth’.

John is always honest, does not suffer fools and displays an uncompromising attitude to excellence. He expects us all to deliver our best and feels that the pupils in his care should do the same.

The following is a quote from his Valete from Fettes College:

After an unbelievably energetic seven years John`s legacy is an Art department that is indisputably at the heart of life at Fettes. To say that art has flourished during his time here doesn’t begin to do justice to the change in mindset towards art that John`s passion for his subject has brought about as founder and chair of the Schools Aesthetics Committee.

John took over our Art department with this same passion for excellence and traditional skills. From superb drawing skills to photography, from printing to ceramics, from painting to sculpture, the work is of tremendous standard.

I can only quote ‘Morts’ [Mr Simon Mortimer] who kindly sent me his thoughts from afar on John as a head of department:

The fact is it’s difficult to find a bad word to say about working with John. His subject knowledge and painting and drawing skills are amazing. I’ve never met anyone as dedicated to teaching art as John - he really wants his students to learn and to develop their skills, and he wants to instil in them his love of art. I’m sure John would go off on one at the mention of the buzz words ‘life-long learners’ but that’s what he’s making in his students.

Everyone knows he works hard: extra sessions for exam students, life drawing classes, trips, constantly changing exhibitions and displays (all with the help, of course, of Louise).

I know John would have liked to have done more at St Peter’s because he always saw the extra potential in each child, in each class and in the whole school in general. John remembers with great affection Malcolm Thyne, who as Headmaster of St Bees appointed him, and then head-hunted him, when he was head at Fettes. John described him as a man of great vision and compassion who truly loved education in its broadest sense: he was a man who would disagree with you and say so, but who never bore a grudge. John’s contribution to art teaching extends to the work he has done as Principal Moderator, National Coursework Advisor and Presenter for AQA. The work he has done here to promote ISSP and the Whitestone Gallery has been immense and has put St Peter’s at the forefront of Art in schools in the North of England.

I think that the secret of John’s success lies in his being busy and having not one, but many interests in life.

These include football, which he played semi-professionally in the northern leagues, playing against Chris Waddle and eventually refereeing Gazza as a rather tubby junior. Then of course there is his beloved Sunderland. I still remember John’s beaming smile as he walked towards chapel one Monday morning carrying aloft the Northern Echo with the ‘Sunderland 3 Newcastle 0’ result.

His music has always played a huge part in his life – playing in several bands, with his very long hair as a trademark. He was drummer for the great 70s band Prefab Sprout but ended up teaching instead of following a rock star’s pathway!! As we all know he has set up our own school band with fellow rockers Harry, Mike, Nick and Andy. Perhaps stardom still beckons!

Sport in the form of rugby also played a huge part in his life from St Bees onwards. He taught the previous England coach Stuart Lancaster at St Bees, where he also coached the U15s, and he was hugely important in helping our U16 side win the Preston Floodlit Cup six years ago. John also shared in the wonderful experience of travelling round the world from Hong Kong to the USA via New Zealand on the 2011 rugby tour; the group of lads we took could not under any circumstances have been described as ‘Angels’; however the Air New Zealand steward’s description of the group served to remind us all what great members of the community we can produce when they are trusted and given space to be themselves:

‘the whole flight crew would like to give special thanks to the 50 boys from St Peter’s School in York, and we wish them the best of luck on their tour of New Zealand. They are the most polite and well behaved school party we have ever had.’

The younger members of this tour party went on to be unbeaten at first-, second- and third-team level in their upper sixth year. John was a huge part in the success of the second team that season, as was his son Charlie. He and I will treasure the memory of the last ten minutes of the QEGS game that season, in which Charlie and the rest of the team, supported from the touch line by all the first XV and their parents, held out to win a truly titanic game.

The Peterite that year did justice to the tour and so much more of what we offer here at St Peter’s. John took the school magazine from a decent record of school life to a truly remarkable kaleidoscope of all the pupils’ achievements: with the aid of Dave Morris’s photos and the efforts of his editorial teams, John turned The Peterite into the best marketing tool the school has ever had.

John has been a tremendous tutor in The Manor since he came to us. The great thing about John in this role is that he recognizes children make mistakes, and they always will. He also has the maturity and experience to realise that getting the boys to honestly face up to these mistakes and take responsibility for them is a much more effective educational approach than simply punishing them.

I would like to end with the one thing that matters most to John: his family. John is devoted to Louise, Tim and Charlie and they are and always have been a great team. They share each others’ success and feel each others’ pain. Professionally Louise is so much more than an ‘art technician’: she is part of the glue that holds the Art department together and it was so good to see the whole department with Charlotte Chisholm, next year’s HOD, when she came to visit. Louise will play a huge part in making the change work. I had the great pleasure of coaching both Tim and Charlie rugby and teaching Tim for Biology. Both lads had great courage and John and Louise would watch them with great pride as they played for school or Pocklington RUFC, where John also coached. What always struck me was that they also watched everybody else’s sons play, and were as keen for them to succeed as they were for Tim or Charlie.

To end, a quote from Ann Petherick, of the Kentmere House Gallery:

John has brought out the talents of so many pupils by being an inspiring teacher and creating a department in which art can thrive and be enjoyed. I am keen to support the principle of showing the work of living professional artists in a school, bringing the worlds of art and education closer together. If only all Art departments had a John Darmody!

Mr Paddy Stephen

Mrs Penny Bollands

If I were to write a UCAS reference about Penny, this is what it would say:

Penny joined St Peter’s in 2002 having worked in the HR department of an international corporation. Quickly building a reputation for thoroughness and professionalism, Penny has turned the Careers department into one of the finest in the country - St Peter’s being one of only seven independent schools to be awarded a Careers Mark. Contrary to popular belief, and her accent, she is not American!

In the Careers department, Penny provides myriad opportunities for our pupils: careers conventions; work experience opportunities; talks by professional bodies; lectures and workshops by universities; trips to businesses to explore apprenticeships and school leaver schemes. The list could go on. Her knowledge of higher education and the UCAS process is second to none. As the Head of Politics writes: ‘anyone who has worked as a housemaster or sixth-form tutor knows how reliable and expert Penny’s advice on university applications is and greatly respects her for it. We all recognise that here in York, but what you may not know is that this reputation now crosses the Atlantic. When Penny and Pete accompanied the exchange to Washington two years ago, Bob Mathis and the Careers department at Walt Whitman High School seized their opportunity: a seminar for their students was quickly organised with Penny giving advice on their applications to Oxbridge.’ This reservoir of knowledge and expertise will be greatly missed next year. Quite simply, she is irreplaceable.

But Penny also plays many crucial roles in the wider life of the school, many of which creep under the radar. She has been an outstanding tutor in Dronfield, able to build up strong relationships with her tutor groups. She has developed many of the PSHE resources that we tutors take for granted – resources that appear unfailingly in our pigeonholes on a Monday afternoon. She has organised planners for pupils and has proof-read The Peterite. With her husband, Pete, she frequently mans the front-of-house for evening events such as those that happened during the York Literary Festival.

Penny has thrown the last fourteen years of her life into St Peter’s (along with the lives of Pete, and her daughters Emily and Mary, both OPs). And, notwithstanding the personalised number plates and increasingly vibrant hair colour, she has done so in a modest,

unassuming manner: consciously or not, we have all relied on her. Her belated gap-year with Pete – starting on Route 66 and ending, no doubt, at Easingwold Golf Club – is much deserved and a source of some envy. She leaves St Peter’s with the overwhelming support, goodwill and friendship of the Common Room and in the knowledge that we recommend her strongly and without reservation.

Mr Richard Trevett

Dr Jamie McLeod

Jamie has been Director of Rowing for ten years; during this time the standard of rowing and the opportunities available for our rowers have increased significantly. The school regularly competes in national competitions both here and abroad, with the Ghent International Regatta being a highlight in the sporting calendar. Competing at Henley and in London for the Thames Head races have involved stays at the Master Robert hotel, a convenient if not too salubrious hostelry underneath the flight path of Heathrow. Long gone are the days of sleeping on boathouse floors by the banks of the Thames. Trips to the big events in the south are now run like well-oiled machines, thanks to Jamie’s attention to detail both on and off the water. Closer to home we have developed links with the York rowing community and there’s always Ancholme International – a firm favourite and highlight of the rowing calendar.

Competing at events both locally and further afield is a complicated operation that involves a good deal of planning and careful negotiation. Jamie has been superb at this, committed to work hours well beyond what is expected of him as a part-time member of staff. He has ensured that pupils, parents and staff are kept fully informed of what’s going on and has nurtured support from the parent body. As a result, we have a thriving parents’ support group as well as the Guy Fawkes Rowing Club.

Under Jamie’s direction, a regular flow of pupils has represented England or Great Britain. This has been balanced against opportunity for all and thus, over the last few years, St Olave’s pupils have been given the chance to try rowing, during term-time and on the highly successful summer sculling camp.

Jamie’s powers of persuasion are legendary: through stealth and hard negotiation we have the best fleet of boats ever, a towing vehicle – and the prospect of a new boathouse just around the corner. All this is very much testament to Jamie’s tenacity and reluctance to back down.

The cyclical nature of rowing means that careers can be measured by competitions. Like most sports, fixtures happen at more or less the same time each year. It’s possible to compare and contrast results, teams and conditions from one year to the next. With this comes the great privilege of shared memories and experience. Rowing is of course no exception and whilst we may naturally gravitate towards the national and international events in Nottingham and the south, it’s the low-key, usually northern competitions that can prove particularly rich pickings for these shared experiences. Rowing on the Tyne at Newcastle, the Don at Doncaster, the Dee at Chester and of course the Ancholme at Brigg each have their own character that our rowers contribute to and benefit from. Jamie has taken this on board and our younger and perhaps less good rowers have benefitted as well as those who aspire to higher things both here and abroad.

Jamie leaves the Boat Club in great shape. Best wishes to both Jamie and Joan and all the very best for their trip to Christchurch, New Zealand. Since they practically live on campus we’ll still see Jamie about the place in years to come!

Jamie: thank you, to you and of course to Joan for all your support, direction and friendship over your years at St Peter’s. You leave the Boat Club in great shape and with an enviable reputation.

Mr Chris Hall

Mrs Alex Newport

Alex came to us in September 2009 as a full-time teacher of languages but, since the birth of her two daughters Stella and Thea, she has recently worked mainly as a part-time member of staff. In her role as a classroom teacher of French and German she taught at GCSE/IGCSE and A-level and her enthusiasm and energy were infectious both in the classroom and in the staffroom with her colleagues. She is an excellent linguist and is used to achieving outstanding results both at GCSE and A-level: last year’s sixth form French leavers achieved 85% at A*/A, which shows the impact that Alex had on their language learning. Alex is equally keen to inspire and motivate all different levels and abilities of children and has been an effective teacher in our department during her years here showing her creativity and imagination with lower ability sets where she worked hard to challenge underachievement and demanded that the pupils make every effort to do their best.

Outside the classroom she is an organised and tremendously enthusiastic member of the common room who has an excellent rapport with both the pupils and her work colleagues. Indeed, as a part-time member of staff, who was not expected to fulfil the same requirements as her full time colleagues, she would often go beyond her expected duties in order to take part in the wider life of the school, allowing her to keep in contact with colleagues and to participate in various school gatherings such as academic extension and organised social events.

Alex has been a conscientious and remarkably able employee, ready to face any challenge. She is an excellent teacher and an even better colleague and we are sad to see her go. She leaves us to take up a job-share post at Huntington School, where she will teach German with French for two days a week. This will then give her time to spend more time with her daughters Stella and Thea, and husband Rob.

The school – and especially the department – will miss her dearly.

Mr Mike Duffy

Mr John Armstrong

John has been the stalwart of the IT team for over fourteen years. His personable nature has lent itself to his recent work in a more hands-on role supporting staff and pupils across the schools – this has undoubtedly played to John’s strengths, allowing his naturally friendly and good-humoured approach to flourish, to encourage the more reluctant IT-ers to engage and have a go.

John’s support for and attendance at school events is frequently commented on; easy in company with a beguiling array of stories to tell, John has been to them all – and probably has the T-shirt, too.

John’s support of young people extends beyond the school gates in his support to the Guiding movement where I am told he is known as ‘Badger’ – I’m not sure if this is because of his digging the loos on camps or if he is actually a honey badger, given his love of sweet things! His support to the pupils at Duke of Edinburgh events has also been long-standing and much valued by those running them and participating in them.

John’s talents are more wide-ranging, though: he also has a note or two to share in the school’s Choral Society, patiently waiting for the practice sessions at the end of dark winter evenings on the support circuit. John has been a longstanding contributor to the school’s charity fundraisers and productions – I believe his alter ego is Chief Sitting Bull and his ‘Sunday best’ is a nun’s habit rather than his workday suit. John really is a bit of a Mr Benn-type character, and obviously has a larger share of the wardrobe than most husbands, containing, I have on good authority, an extensive array of outfits for all occasions.

There is perhaps good reason for at least part of this wardrobe as John has a deep commitment in India where he has given long-term support to an orphanage and women’s refuge. He’s taken several parties from school to visit, and given many pupils and staff life-long memories of amazing experiences they will never forget. Even in the face of natural disasters John has remained steadfast in his belief in people doing what they can for others and themselves. On one visit pupils and staff were caught-up in severe floods. John was unruffled by the turn of events, on the outside at least, and he was able through his cultural understanding and easy manner with the locals to arrange a way back to the airport when all appeared lost. His lack of visible anxiety gave confidence to others to help themselves and via impromptu hosts and helpers, the school’s own ‘Indiana Jones’ arranged the crossing of swollen rivers (after a full risk assessment of course!) and sleeping accommodation in villages by quickly gaining the trust and support of locals to assist the party’s progress. Even at the airport, faced with hundreds in a similar predicament, John amazingly got a check-in desk opened just for the St Peter’s party – not even Harrison Ford could manage that!

John has been a real pleasure to work (and play) alongside, and we wish him well on this next step of life’s road. There might be a place in the school’s archives for him – although his exhibit number has not been released as yet!

Mr Mark Christian

Miss Katharina Schaffer

Katharina Schaffer joined us in September 2015 from the University of Regensburg, close to her home in the town of Ingolstadt, famous for the production of Audi cars. Her move from the south of Germany to the north of England proved to be a colder but very successful one as she soon made her mark on the school in a way that no other German assistant has. She was a fantastic classroom practitioner, she engaged in the sports programme, introducing Pilates as a games option, and she became a reliable resident in the junior boarding house. Her work ethic, her friendship and her willingness to embrace so many facets of life at St Peter’s will be sorely missed by everyone. She has returned to Germany to complete her studies before embarking on her training to be an English and PE teacher at a German grammar school. She has a natural gift for the teaching profession and a warm, natural personality to match. We wish her well on the next stage of her teaching career.