VALETE

This year we said goodbye to...

JOANNA WRIGHT

Deputy Head

Joanna Wright joined the staff at St Peter’s in 2012 as the Head Master’s deputy. Her remit included leading the pastoral care of the school, boarding, the day to day running of the school and much more besides. That fact that on her departure, her original role was fulfilled by at least three able and industrious senior leaders gives some idea of the breadth of Joanna’s ability. She will, however, be remembered at St Peter’s for the way she did things as much as what she did. Under her leadership the housemasters and housemistresses became a cohesive and influential group. Values, thought and an open sharing of ideas became the hallmarks of pastoral care and discipline, which were in turn seen as inextricably linked. Compassion, thoroughness, good humour and (nearly always) a chance to laugh accompanied each pastoral meeting. They were times of the week which we looked forward to, both because they were fun and productive, and because they reinforced what was most important to us all - the interests of the pupils.

The final two and a half years at St Peter’s showed us Joanna at her very best. Through the complications of restructuring her role and the inevitable uncertainty in a period of transition of school leadership, Joanna’s steadfastness, professionalism and sense of what mattered had an enormous, yet often invisible, impact on colleagues and pupils. Her appointment as Head of King Edward’s, Witley speaks highly both of Joanna and their governors. They sought someone who would understand their school, someone who would care for it, someone who was ambitious, not for themselves but the institution they were to lead, someone who was both wise and pragmatic, and someone who people would be inspired to work under. In Joanna they found all these just as we had.

Whether in a difficult discussion with a parent, managing meetings of colleagues, addressing a year group on a challenging topic, listening to a distressed pupil, asking pointed questions of a colleague, disentangling the truth behind an unedifying teenaged escapade, or just enjoying a funny moment with pupil or a colleague, Joanna’s charm, wit, wisdom compassion, and, where needed steely strength of will, shone through. We shall miss her but many of us will continue to ask ourselves, when faced with an apparently intractable challenge, how would Joanna have responded to this.

Mr Duncan Gillies

We also said goodbye to a number of other colleagues. Emma Greenhalgh, part of our Chemistry department for five years, who moves to Harrogate Ladies College. Wendy Goodson has taught singing since 1998 as well as performing as a soloist in many of our major concerts. Our Bursar, Michael Schofield has overseen significant improvements to the campus and moves to Haileybury after six years here. The Head Master’s PA, Joy Warner, who has worked in several independent schools in pastoral and administrative roles moves on after three years, branching out to work for NFU Mutual.

RICHARD WALLACE

Design & Technology Teacher

BARRY GILL

Chemistry Technician

It is a privilege to be asked to write about Richard, one of the kindest individuals I have had the pleasure to work with. He joined St Peter’s just over thirty years ago - along with Chris Hall and me (hard to imagine that us oldies were once the ‘young ones’). He was a full-time member of staff until only recently, originally doing boarding duties in School House, then becoming a tutor in Clifton for many years. When the DT department became overstaffed, Richard, with typical sensitivity, offered to ‘take the hit’, volunteering to reduce his own hours to protect other part time staff. Of course this has led to him now having a thriving business; maybe you were not aware that he is also a qualified electrician.

Family is at the heart of Richard’s life - and St Peter’s can take a little bit of credit here. Sue, his wife, was helping out in the school office when a young Richard Wallace was moving into Alcuin. After he had collected the keys, Sue told her colleague that he had the kindest eyes of anyone she’d ever met. It must be true then that the eyes are, indeed, the windows to the soul.

Richard’s happy demeanour, rarely sad or bad-tempered, makes him such a positive person to be around. He always seems to be smiling - although his biggest smile is always reserved for when he thrashes Matt Grant at squash!

Richard has made many other contributions to life at St Peter’s. For a number of years, he was responsible for running ‘The Great Egg Race’, a hugely exciting, team-building event, and very appropriate for Richard as someone so resourceful and imaginative. He has entered pupils for the Regional Technology Tournament at The Railway Museum, with St Peter’s pupils achieving considerable success, organised trips to the London Design Museum each year and run extra evening sessions in the workshops for exam pupils. You may not know that he also taught at St Olave’s for a short time and he was also in charge of school photographs for a number of years.

Of course, being Richard, he has never shown off about his skills and accomplishments, and therefore I should not have been surprised to learn a lot more about him whilst preparing this piece for The Peterite. Along with countless other members of staff I feel privileged to call Richard not just a colleague but also a friend - and we all want to wish you a wonderful - if busy - retirement. Where do you start summing up the Career of Mr Barry Gill? He has served St Peter’s School Chemistry Department for 43 years! During this time, he has worked with eight Heads of Departments always ensuring that they did things his way even though they thought they were getting their way. He always took great delight in ‘fixing the HoD’s experiments so they worked and not letting on when the HoD celebrated the success of the experiment.

Barry showed great dedication to ensure that all practicals were put out in the various laboratories despite the lateness of the request. He loved the theatre of the Christmas Lecture and adapted to new technology even though it did not come easily, the ‘Computer says no’!

When it came to the ordering of Chemicals, Barry never let one HoD forget that he had placed an order of a whole drum of sodium thiosulphate, enough of the compound to last many decades!

He never complained about walking into town to make purchases from the pound shop. Barry would often alert me when the delightful cakes were on offer at afternoon tea and teased me by saying that ‘he had enjoyed eating my one’. In terms of dress sense, he is the Master of the clip on tie, a sensible Health & Safety precaution when working in a dangerous Chemistry environment.

Barry was always engaging with the students both in and out of lessons; he cared about them and was genuinely interested in them. He was willing to walk around the laboratory, when a class practical was going on and keep his experienced eye on any potential dangerous situation. With his vast experience of first aid, he was the perfect person to have in the Chemistry laboratories.

He kept calm under pressure and never complained, well only to me privately. Barry you will be sadly missed by all who have worked in Chemistry and a very tough act to follow. Thank you for your professionalism and dedication to Chemistry.

Mr Bob Shread

JO LAWRENCE

English Teacher, Formerly Head of English

Where do you begin, to summarise the 26-year teaching career of such a multi-talented colleague as Jo Lawrence? Well, firstly in St Olave’s. Jo began her time there, where she taught English and for some time was Head of English.

Jo joined St Peter’s English Department, in 2010, becoming Head of Department in 2011. She enthused and mentored the department with warmth, creativity and an immense passion for English. She was an incredible driving force, as well as being one of the most compassionate and kindest people. Ever eager to share her own love of writing, she set up the student publication ‘Keystone’, nurturing pupils’ journalistic and creative talents. Somehow, she also managed to squeeze in an MA, testament to the academic rigour she brought to her classroom. As for trips, from Haworth to art galleries, lectures and countless theatres, Jo was always on a quest to expand pupils’ intellectual horizons.

Jo also taught Drama for many years, inspiring her pupils and achieving superb results in every way. Her direction of numerous school plays was loved by pupils and audiences alike and gave many children the chance to shine, a particular highlight was a production of The Tempest, her favourite Shakespeare play. During her time at St Peter’s Jo coached rounders and badminton and latterly she was a member of the School Choir and the Choral Society.

Always willing to go the extra mile for both colleagues and pupils, her academic results speak for themselves. So much longer lasting than that however, is the love of literature, learning and integrity that she has instilled in so many hundreds of pupils. These things last a lifetime. And this is what we miss most about Jo: her complete dedication to her pupils’ development, achievements and most of all enjoyment of her subject and projects. Jo will also be missed for her pastoral support as a tutor and boarding assistant; with intuition and sensitivity she understood how academic and pastoral care go hand in hand; clearly evident in her roles as boarding assistant in the Rise and tutor and assistant in School House. We miss the gales of laughter from her classroom; only Jo could make the Gothic genre such fun! She broadened the horizons of so very many pupils, always fostering creativity and enriching their lives. We can never thank her enough. We wish her all the very best, as she moves onto pastures new with English Heritage and her own creative writing; we hope she now has time to dedicate to her own pursuits, having encouraged those of so many hundreds of Peterites!

Mrs Lynne Pickles & Mr Chris Hall

MIKE DUFFY

Head of Modern Foreign Languages

Mike Duffy was appointed in 2000 to introduce Spanish into the school. He settled quickly and, with Scottish grit, soon overcame his opposition to the winter timetable. During his time here, he built a strong and thriving Spanish department and forged strong links in Spain escorting many groups of grateful sixth formers to language courses in Salamanca to give them first-hand experience of Spanish culture. When he was appointed Head of MFL, Mike maintained his strong drive and was not prepared to shy away from difficult decisions: when he firmly believed that something was best for the pupils he was sure to see it through. His contribution to the design of the Pascal Building reflected that too and, in this project, he was very keen to include the suggestions of his language colleagues.

His approach to all things was characteristically energetic and dynamic. That was evident not only in his well-disciplined classroom management but also in his contributions to the sporting life of the school. His youthful looks made him an advertisement for an active lifestyle – had he really reached retirement age? - and his fitness programmes and tennis game became legendary. As a colleague, once you had mastered his accent, he could be great company. He had a lively sense of humour and a treasure trove of anecdotes.

Retirement from teaching does not mean that Mike has retired his love of languages: he will continue to pursue them in the art of translation and learning Italian. Retirement also gives him the chance to pursue his interest in cycling with his new tandem: at least he can now keep up with Rachael when they go touring!

Mr Matt Grant