Journal 2016
News From
HONORARY MEMBERS Gill Oliver Director of Studies and French teacher So, as for me. I retired from teaching at Christmas 2014, very keen to take my writing up a level whilst I still had energy. My first novel came out in March 2016. A Backward Glance is the story of how a pupil inspires a teacher to get his life back on track after bereavement. It takes in digital technology, classical mythology and the next eruption of Vesuvius along the way and although the subject matter is serious it will make you smile too. In the next month I should have a set of short stories out on Kindle. On the go now is a comic novel, rom com meets misery memoir. People give you funny looks if you say you’re writing a comic novel about recovery from stroke, but every time I’ve read an extract, they’ve laughed their heads off and asked for more. It’s inspired by my husband and other stroke survivors, and I’m really hoping that this book will celebrate the humour and determination that gets you through illness and disability. Other than that I’m still singing with Sherborne Chamber Choir and at last enjoying guilt-free gardening, now there’s no marking to be done!
Other staff leavers: Damian Brown, Matthew Dibble, Michele Calle Drapala, Jonny Gammon, Bethan Jones, Rachel Knight, Marion Ling, Frank McMorrow, Emily Steel, John Symes, Harriet Bajorat, Violaine Ludwick, Jenny Moore, Katy Smith 48
Jenny Newman Head of Art & Design After 22 years at the helm of the Sherborne Girls Art Department, Jenny Newman retired in the summer of 2016. She has led the department with great panache and been a central figure within the school. Here are a few of her own words. “I will really miss the girls of course. And the whole department, the camaraderie with DT, History of Art and Photography colleagues as well as the other two Art staff and the technicians. Art trips to London and abroad, organising them and taking them and seeing the girls outside of the normal context. The creativity and the buzz. I will not be leaving Sherborne completely as I live in an old cottage in the town. I want to get back into doing my own work again – 40 years of teaching does rather get one out of the habit of making one’s own work matter. Mostly I will be taking a pause and deciding what I want to do. I have lots of friends and love cooking and walking. I also hope to do a bit of travelling.” Jenny has always been 100% committed to her students and it is testament to the esteem in which she is held that so many of her former Art students came to see her at the ‘Making Our Mark’ exhibition held in London in March 2016 and also at the final end-of-year exhibition in Sherborne. Many others who could not make it to see her in person wrote to thank her for all that she had done to support them. We wish Jenny all the best and a well-deserved rest. She is much missed by staff and students alike. And her advice to future Art students? Always take risks, look hard and think hard.