Spotlight on Richard Catterall, Jen Brewer and Helen Thomson

I joined the Boys’ Division on 1st September 1997, the day after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. I recall Headmaster Alan Wright leading the School in the first full assembly of the year and the way the lads conducted themselves in Great Hall was exemplary, given the circumstances. I knew there and then that I had joined a school with an enduring ethos.

No. It was mid-June 1997. I was in my last week of Finals at university, when I saw an advert in the TES for a Teacher of German. I applied, expecting an instant rejection. I didn’t have a PGCE, after all. Days later the phone rang and it was Alan Wright suggesting that the Head of German, Dick Freem, come up to Edinburgh by train to interview me, as I wasn’t able to travel down to Bolton due to exam commitments. Meeting Dick off the train at Waverley Station, he quickly put me at ease, saying that the interview process would begin there and then: “Which restaurant are you taking me to for lunch?” (Café Royal, if my memory serves me correctly.) The second interview question: “What do you recommend from the menu?” (Caesar Salad I think). Dick clearly approved. He ordered the same and the rest is history.

Over the course of 25 years I have got to know many quirky and sparky lads, and some equally quirky colleagues. It has been a privilege to have taught so many boys with character. Bolton School manages to teach character without too much effort: the opportunity for a boy to develop his personality and the nurturing of talent in diverse areas of extra-curricular life, year groups with many young men who throw themselves into their activities, the sense of ‘have a go’ and don’t worry about it if they fail, boys and girls who give of their time to support the School, and who know to do the right thing at the right time. And then, of course, so many inspirational colleagues with immense breadth of experience, and some absolute ‘legends’ who have guided me along the way. (If you accidentally write on a brand-new interactive whiteboard in permanent ink, use a non-permanent marker and it comes off immediately … just about!)

The stand-out memories for me are outside: kayaking the lochs of the Great Glen (the Caledonian Canal) in Scotland with Year 9 boys, cooking pizzas on upturned sea-kayaks on the shores of Loch Ness; skiing below the Eiger and descending the mogul field where On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was filmed; the beauty of the Rhein valley every Autumn with Year 8 Germanists in tow; low-flying fighter aircraft appearing out of nowhere whilst sitting becalmed in a safety boat on Lake Ullswater and later that day agreeing to go for a ‘short run’ with Pete Jackson up Place Fell. I am happiest outdoors and could happily spend much more time up at Patterdale. I will miss taking Year 12 on the Amatt Challenge. The highlight of my career, however, was back in 1998 and bumping into a Biology teacher, Joanne Robertson.

In 25 years, almost everything has changed. Advances in technology are probably the obvious drivers of change. I recall the first dial-up modem in the back of B13 and seeing how the School has embraced technology in transforming our teaching and the creation of vast resources of online learning materials which we never had at our disposal as children. There have been seismic shifts in safeguarding, too. Pupil wellbeing is (now) very much front and centre in our approach. Teachers have to possess a very clear appreciation of how to embed resilience and promote good mental health. What I have found irksome and unnecessary have been some of the examination specification changes, but I have always enjoyed the support of a department keen to adapt and overcome the interference from those in exam boards often removed from the reality of the modern-day classroom and its challenges.

The way the School Captain is appointed. Sergeant, dressed in his finery, arrives at a classroom, sombre-faced, to lead away the candidate to the Head’s office to be offered the post. Such is the seriousness of the occasion, the poor boy must think he is about to be permanently excluded! The impromptu humming amongst the lads at the end of the School assembly during the playing of a familiar organ voluntary always make me chuckle too.

I should like to take this opportunity to thank those with whom I have worked most closely over the years. Clearly my thanks to Dick Freem for appointing me and believing in me, aged only 22. To Karsten Hiepko, for his kindness, guidance and gentle encouragement over so many years. Kevin Brace and I go back to 1997, when he, too, joined the school. Kevin is quite simply a remarkable teacher. I still cannot fathom how he manages to remember all the birthdays of the boys in his form. To Olivia Sullivan, my best wishes and thanks for guiding me with insights and experience of SEND provision. The Head of German baton passes to Katharine Roddy with my best wishes for the future leadership of the Department. Jack Williams and Mark Chilton have both been of immense support in the work undertaken in Sixth Form life and my best wishes to Martin Prentki as he takes this area of School forward.

Jo remains a Biology Teacher here so I’ll still hear all the news! I am taking up the post of Head of Upper School at Rossall School, together with some teaching of MFL which will offer fresh challenges and opportunities, not least getting my head around delivering lessons in the International Baccalaureate and teaching native speaker pupils in German. There are exciting plans for Rossall School and I am looking forward to getting to know new colleagues there. My immediate plan is to purchase an electric car that will manage to get me to the Fylde and back each day.

I have worked at Bolton School since September 2013 and before that I was at Essa Academy for two years. I started my career as a technician at Nailsea School in Bristol, then decided to do my PGCE where I worked at Cotham School and Oasis Academy Brighstowe Shirhampton (both in Bristol).

The staff and the students, I still remember my first Year 11 class in my very first year, with legendary Brad Kelly! I have really enjoyed the camaraderie between subjects, too; the link between Music, Drama, Art and Technology is something that you will not find in many schools. I was lucky enough to work with such brilliant colleagues who have supported me through various, shows, exhibitions and festivals during my nine years here at Bolton School.

I have lots of stand-out memories: the Berlin trip, the graffiti workshop and the bus tour, Patterdale with my Year 8 form, the nativity that we performed during one of our assemblies (also my Year 8 form), the one and only Saundersfoot, celebrating Bolton Pride with Sir Ian McKellen, the School’s incredible production of Romeo and Juliet - to name but a few!

Five years

Yes, Bolton is my fourth school. I’d previously worked at Bristol Cathedral School, Ampleforth College and Trinity College, South Australia. Arriving in Bolton after being overseas certainly felt odd; it took quite a while to remember it was ‘break’ not ‘recess’, ‘duty in the quad’ not ‘yard duty’, ‘pupils’ not ‘students’ and one looked forward to ‘holidays’ not ‘vacations’!

Definitely the boys: even when they are driving you crazy (a not infrequent experience), they are lively, thoughtful, perceptive and often very kind. I’ve predominantly taught boys during my career and the level of inclusion and tolerance never fails to impress and move me. It is also quite rare that I don’t end up laughing at some point during a day – in particular Mondays with the Junior Literary and Debating Society. As a huge cricket tragic, it’s great to be able to chew the fat about cricket with pupils, even if bribing my current Year 10 to work by promising to give them updates on the test score didn’t really work. Above all, being challenged about some of the texts I’ve taught has been wonderful too; I love my subject and am passionate about its intellectual, moral and emotional value, so being able to teach some extremely engaged students has been wonderful. This has been particularly in the Sixth Form – this year’s Year 13 Lit class had five boys applying to read English Literature at university – but not only there.

There are a few lessons which jump out. My Year 10 Macbeth Song Contest lessons didn’t generate much musical genius, but did produce a lot of laughter, as did a Year 9 improvised skit where All Quiet on the Western Front was reinterpreted as Squid Game. Playing Wordle, Heardle and Worldle with my tutor group this year cheered up every morning. I also felt very fortunate to be able to take an assembly commemorating the 25th anniversary of the massacre in Dunblane. The School’s music programme was a constant source of joy. Playing in the orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall in 2019 was an enormous privilege, while I’ve been enjoyed so many fantastic performances by very talented boys. Jamie Gregson’s stunning performance of Arutunian’s Trumpet Concerto to win Young Musician in 2020 particularly stands out.

It’s hard to look past the experience of the lockdowns though; the sheer weirdness of teaching online, Zoom meetings, wearing masks in the classroom, year group zones, hours spent agonising over the TAGs, twice weekly Covid testing … it still raises the odd shudder.

I’m not sure I’m really qualified to say having only been here for a few, very strange, years!

The Christmas Festival. That was one time I always felt part of the wider community and history of Bolton School. It was fascinating hearing about the past from former students and catching up with the more recent leavers I knew.

After 22½ years at the front of the classroom, I am going to be at the back of one for a while! Next year I am going to do an MA in Education at the University of York. I am really looking forward to refreshing and broadening my knowledge, being exposed to new pedagogies and completing educational research. After that, who knows? I don’t think I will be away from a classroom for too long, though.