Obituaries the Grammar School for all children, if necessary by paying fees, were no longer possible in law. The overall effects of the reform legislation were by no means favourable for preparatory schools in general, and it will be no mere footnote in the Academy’s history that Mr Simmons with shrewdness and energy maintained the momentum of Ben Madigan, building on the work of Miss Bass and Mr Thompson (two practitioners whom he unreservedly admires and to whom he acknowledges a substantial professional debt), winning and maintaining the confidence of parents in the high quality of service provided for young children. A former pupil of Ballymena Academy (and of its preparatory department) he had a distinguished career at Stranmillis College, where he was identified for a mark of outstanding merit in the teaching of older primary school pupils, and had six years of invaluable experience at Lisnasharragh Secondary School where he specialised in speech and drama, producing two well-remembered large scale plays, pioneering educational visits to France and to Holland, and establishing a reputation as a flexible and sympathetic teacher of those children most in need of help. On his appointment to our preparatory department in 1964 he was instantly at home in the family atmosphere generated by Miss Bass and was entirely at ease and at one with her standards and with her vision of education in the most formative years. When Mr Thompson succeeded her, and Mr Simmons became Vice-Principal in 1973, the two men formed a close professional relationship complementing one another, both selflessly committed in their different ways to children and young people. It was a matter of much satisfaction to Mr Thompson that his trusted lieutenant was appointed to assume full responsibility for the preparatory department in 1985, a year in the course of which both men had taken much pride and pleasure in the opening of the new kindergarten wing by Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne. At Ben Madigan Mr Simmons oversaw – and appreciated the value of – the modifications of the curriculum brought about by the primary guidelines initiative, which was sponsored by the Northern Ireland Council for Educational Development, and managed adeptly the impact on pupils, staff and parents of a series of important changes in the 11+ selection procedure. The broad experience for pupils that his predecessors had envisaged was maintained and the results of Ben Madigan pupils in the Transfer Procedure tests were of consistently high quality. Despite the inevitable increase in fees, and demographic changes in the traditional catchment area of the preparatory school, pupil enrolments remained buoyant.
But his role was not exclusively one of conservation. He initiated and innovated. He persuaded the Board of Governors of the centrality of a Library, influenced its planning and construction, and helped to build its present stock of 3000 volumes. He was instrumental in the further development of the school’s incomparable setting as an educational resource and showed much perseverance, and not a little political skill, in securing the creation and construction of a pond for environmental studies. He made the Carol Service a regular feature of school life, and set the pattern of an annual educational visit to London, and in recent years, of trips to European ski resorts. He established a high level of co-operation and good neighbourly links with the adjacent school, Our Lady of Lourdes. Just as he had pressed for a preparatory school prospectus that did justice to Ben Madigan’s facilities and advantages, he developed also as a regular feature of “The Owl”, the Preparatory Department Diary which gives such a vivid and effective impression of its day-to-day life and activities. Though he minimises his own aptitude for sport and games, he was convinced of their importance for all (or almost all) children and encouraged the development of a diverse games programme, promoting the annual Sports Day as an important event in the school calendar. Above all, he led staff and pupils through the imperious demands of the new Northern Ireland Curriculum, which seemed, at first sight at any rate, to devalue the past work of teachers throughout the primary sector, by keeping confidence and morale high and using much patience, tact and diplomacy. Mr Simmons asked much from himself and much from his staff, setting exacting professional standards which his colleagues were able and willing to meet. He acknowledges that the support of committed staff and loyal parents was indispensable to him in his work. The best wishes of both go to him in his retirement where, among many satisfactions, he will be able to contemplate a life-time of exemplary service to the cause of children and of young people. During retirement Ivor continued to teach, acting as a tutor in order to help prepare children for the Selection Procedure exams. He travelled widely with his friend and long-time companion, Mr Alistair McMillen and had a wide circle of friends which included Miss Rosemary McIlroy, former Deputy Head of the Academy and, like Ivor, a former pupil of Ballymena Academy. We mourn his passing.
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