John Chambers

When did you first join the School?

Pretty sure it was around Easter 1999.

How did you find out about the job?

I was the IT Manager at Falmouth School. The IT Co-ordinator left the Times Education Supplement in the IT Office, so I had a look at the job listings, saw the job at Truro School. I applied and came for an interview. One of the stages was an interview with the Deputy Head and the Cornwall County IT Advisor at that time, Uta Wagemaker. It was quite an intense all-day process of interviews. I got a phone call that evening from the Head at the time, Guy Dodd, offering me the job and of course I accepted.

At the time the School had recently had an inspection. One area that required improvement was with IT. I can remember a tour of the school at interview, in the old Languages block (now known as Junior Block with maths classrooms). The Languages Lab never worked though, because they connected it all together across site with a coax BNC 10base2 cable running at 10Mbits, I remember thinking at the time, if I get the job I’ve got my work cut out here!

The first thing required was to improve what Truro School had and set up additional IT facilities. What I found was all the computers were built using local companies to a minimum spec and a lot of the software was unlicensed, so we basically had to start from scratch.

I set up two computer rooms and upgraded the Language Lab, with the then IT teacher, Patrick Buxton (TS 19812011), who also taught part-time maths and got things squared and working with me. Things evolved, and all the then three separate networks were improved. I also started improving what was available at the Prep School. Eventually we got all the networks (Curriculum, Finance and Admin) integrated into one large network.

From one server, we now have 26 – the majority of which are virtualised so much easier now to manage. From the 48 computer stations when I started, we now have 526 across both sites. Back when I started the Prep School was completely separate to the main school. About 10 years ago I managed to get a line in to connect the two sites. The whole school now is one integrated network.

I remember the first School website around 2001 which was created by an Old Truronian, Ed Moore CO02.

Ed did the design and I managed to get the School registered as a domain: truroschool.com. The department of education at the time were trying to get all schools to use truro-school. cornwall.sch.uk. Can you imagine trying to fit all that on the side of the School minibuses! I registered truroschool.com after checking with the then Deputy Head Simon Price, which is what the site URL still is today.

Would you say there’s any legacies and things that you’re proud of when looking back at your career here?

I think I did my best to accommodate what HODs wanted in their departments and avoided pushing IT systems onto anyone if I could. We went from 48 to 526 computers across both sites, which are stable and work well.

Adopting cloud-based systems as we developed meant we were very well equipped when it came to lockdown. The switch to home-based learning during that time was relatively easy using the systems we had in place, with staff and students doing a remarkable job of teaching and learning remotely.

It’s been quite a journey from where we started. The involvement of Jon Richards and Liane Holt as Assistant Network Managers a few years later, and then Ross Lovell as e-Learning Developer, has made such a positive difference. When you look at the services that we have now compared to when we started, it’s very satisfying to be leaving a legacy of such massive progress and change that the IT team has driven forward over the years.

Are there any other staff members or pupils you have fond memories of?

My team are actually the longest serving unbroken team (Liane, Jon and Ross) in the School – until I retired. I have fond memories of working with Mark Vanstone CO88 who is the current Head of Computer Science and IT, and was my line manager for around 10 years, prior to that Jane Rainbow. Roy Wright who was Facilities Manager and Steve Flloyd CO76 who ran Truro School Association for many years.

I’ll remember School trips with Ingrid Quaife (current Teacher of Modern Languages). I went to Munich twice to support Ingrid and the Languages department and students on those trips, which I have to say were so efficiently run by Ingrid, it was a real pleasure to be able to help.

Many students will remember me from when I ran squash sessions on Wednesday afternoons.

I organised the first-ever squash match for decades against Newquay Tretherras – I think it’s the last time we ever lost a squash match!

I kept squash going for many years leading up to the building of the SBA where I persuaded the then Business Director that squash was relevant, and we needed squash courts.

I’ve also been taking students out in the Summer Terms for fishing on Wednesday afternoons, at Pendennis Point in Falmouth and Roundwood Quay. Many of our former pupils will hopefully remember our Wednesday afternoons fishing and landing that first fish.

What are you looking forward to with retirement?

Not doing the commute to Truro from home (Helston) every day and not doing aspects of my job at home that I needed to do, such as being there on-call generally in case of urgent issues, thankfully few and far between.

IT as a job has become more and more needy over the years, with lots of support needing to be given to staff and students who are using the systems out of hours. I’ve been sat on the bank fishing at a weekend and had an alert come through. I shan’t miss all that! I’ve been asked to carry on the Wednesday afternoon fishing, so I haven’t completely retired though.