Richard Garrett Scholarship Award

The Richard Garrett Scholarship Award

How do you recognise nearly four decades of sterling service?

Where do you start when describing Richard’s character and his legacy to Reed’s? The most sensible place would be at the beginning!

After being educated at Kings, Wimbledon, and Durham University, Richard started his teaching career in a comprehensive school located in a very deprived area of the north of England; a million miles away from Reed’s in so many respects!

However, some of the challenges he faced no doubt shaped how he would be as a teacher in years to come. Faced with daily incidences of abuse and aggression, Richard had to cajole, coerce, encourage and engage pupils who had an utter disinterest in learning and thus no respect for the person trying to teach them.

However, showing the resilience we know he has in bucket loads, Richard persevered and, at the end of his tenure at the state comprehensive, he was presented with a specially painted glass by his pupils as a thank-you gift. It was this simple, but precious, glass that sat on Richard’s mantel shelf in his office for the 39 years he was at Reed’s, as a constant reminder of that special moment when the hard work and heartache made it all worthwhile.

Richard arrived at Reed’s in 1978, which is definitely a generation ago, as proven by the fact that several of the pupils he taught now have their children at the School! The headmaster was John Tyson and he took Richard on as an Economics teacher.

The School back then was very different. As a young teacher, Richard felt that some of the rules and regulations were not bringing out the best in the pupils, who were always central to his thinking. He undertook to change these – and change them he did. By the time he had become Bristowe Housemaster, he had enlisted the support of his cohort and put into place a prefect system that was respected and properly managed, as it is today.

So, what did Richard do during his 39 years at the School? Well, the question really should be what didn’t he do? Economics master, teacher of hockey, cellist, tennis coach, Housemaster (Bristowe and Capel), senior manager and latterly Development Director. He was integral to the success of the Slater Tennis Scheme which saw the likes of Tim Henman OBE, Chris Eaton, Jamie Delgado and many others go through its ranks. This has flourished to become the Reed’s School Tennis Academy. With the same drive and determination, Richard also oversaw the development of the Reed’s FutureTech initiative, bringing together a cross-curricular programme of science, maths and design, encouraging pupils to solve tomorrow’s problems.

Richard’s passion for helping the disadvantaged was obviously a quality that was innate, as he developed our very successful Reed’s Primary and Secondary Forums, now a thriving body of nearly 40 state schools in deprived areas of London and South-East which sends around 1500 of their pupils annually to the School to take part in a unique programme of enrichment activities.

Richard’s commitment to the School is unsurpassed and so much of what Reed’s has become today is down to his tireless dedication and vision. For that, we offer our collective thanks.

Richard Garrett Scholarship Award

In true Richard fashion, when we were discussing how best to recognise his contribution to the School, he said that he did not want a hall or building named after him but would like a Foundation bursary award in his name.

Consequently, we are establishing the Richard Garrett Scholarship Award. This is an endowment and the resultant scholarship awards will be presented to deserving pupils each year in recognition of their emerging talents. The award will give those students extra opportunities academically, culturally and through sport to enable them to further excel. It will also celebrate Richard’s 39 years of outstanding service to Reed’s, its pupils and its Foundation.

We hope that ORs – and those who knew Richard personally – might consider supporting his award and ensuring his legacy lives on.

Objectives of the Award

• To recognise talented and deserving Foundation pupils who best exemplify the School’s values for the development of their talent and future potential. • To support the work of the Reed’s Foundation. • T o create an endowment fund, the income from which will be used to support

Foundation pupils in perpetuity. • To recognise and celebrate Richard Garrett’s 39 years of service and commitment to Reed’s School and its Foundation.

Award Nominees

• The School will select the nominee(s) for the Award based on individual talent development which is representative of one or more of the School’s values: compassion, curiosity, integrity, resilience, independence and responsibility. • The nominee(s) will be presented with their Award at Speech Day each year.

Donations to the Award

• Single donations can be received: online, by cheque, by BACS payment or by debit/credit card. Recurring gifts can be made by standing order.

All donations will have gift aid applied as appropriate. • All donations should be made payable to the Reed’s School Charity Account (Account No: 00930648, Sort Code: 23-84-81). • All donations will be placed into an endowment fund. • Donors to the Award will be recognised in marketing material, unless anonymity is requested.

Please contact Kathryn (kbartram@reeds.surrey.sch.uk) or Sharmaine (smatthews@reeds.surrey.sch.uk) in the Development Office if you would like any further information.

Richard represents everything I love about Reed’s: the family atmosphere, the network that extends far beyond school days and the ability to never take oneself too seriously.

A great teacher and mentor for the pupils of Reed’s for many years. A delightful and caring man who was the bedrock of the school during my time.

Richard (aka Rome) was a big influence on me in my formative years as a student and resident of Bristowe between 1987 and 1992. His approach to discipline was often delivered in a humorous and disarming fashion, and his genuine concern for student welfare set him apart from many of the other masters. Tough but always fair!

My sincere congratulations to Richard on a well-deserved retirement and best wishes for his future endeavours!

We say a big thank you to all those ORs who have donated to Richard’s fund to date, s upporting the Foundation as ever:

Mr James Allan (Mullens 1988) Mr Paul Andronicou (Bristowe 1992) Mr Mark Barnett (Business Associate) Mrs Kathryn Bartram (Former Colleague) Mr Niall Battson (Blathwayt 1996) Mr Peter Bellet (Mullens 1988) Mr Dustin Brooks (Capel 1990) Mr Dave Brown (Former Parent) Mr Marcus Brown (Bristowe 1985) Dr William Bulman (Mullens 2003) Dr Andy Cairns (Bristowe 1973) Mr Nick Carey (Mullens 1984) Mr Nathan Close (Bristowe 1992) Mr Angus Darroch-Warren (Capel 1986) Mr Paul Davies (Former Colleague) Mr Sam Donnelly (Blathwayt 2000) Mr David Edwards (Blathwayt 1982) Mr Jason Foster (Blathwayt 1995) Mr Jamie Gordon (Capel 1988) Mr Christian Gore (Mullens 1987) Mr Duncan Groves (Bristowe 1990) Mrs Kathryn Hamlet (Colleague) Mr Giles Helbert (Bristowe 1986) Mr Justyn Herbert (Capel 1983) Mrs Lucy Hurford (Former Colleague) Mr Dusan Jaksic (Mullens 1985) Mr Jamie Jamieson (Mullens 1985) Mr Ed Jones (Former Colleague) Mr Trevor Jones (Former Parent) Mr Marcus Landau (Business Associate) Mr David Legg (Bristowe 1979) Mr Kevin Liu (Blathwayt 2002) Mr Russell Maddock (Blathwayt 1982) Mrs Sharmaine Matthews (Former Colleague) Mr Philip McDuell (Blathwayt 1981) Mr Steve Merry (Capel 2000) Mr Nigel Mitchell (Mullens 1997) Mr Marc Moreso (Bristowe 1991) Mr Luke O’Donoghue (Blathwayt 1997) Mr Richard Pearson (Mullens 1980) Mr Matt Ridsdale (Bristowe 2003) Mr Josh Roberts (Capel 2000) Mrs Sian Rowland (Mullens 1986) Mr Jorrit Schrauwers (Capel 1997) Mr Mark Shapley (Mullens 1985) Mr Dan Shepherd (Capel 1990) Mr Simon Shrager (Blathwayt 1988) Ms Caroline St-Gallay (Former Colleague) Mr Simon Stokoe (Mullens 1986) Mr Nigel Taunt (Mullens 1971) Mr Edward Wears (Capel 1995) Mr Paul West (Capel 1990) Mr Tony Wild (Bristowe 1991) Mr Geoff Wilkinson (Mullens 2000) Mrs Olivia Wilkinson (Bristowe 2002) Mr Rick Winter (Bristowe 1991) Mr Andy Wotton (Mullens 1975) The Tim Henman Foundation