Tributes

John Nolan

Mr John Nolan It was with great sadness that we learnt of the death of our colleague Mr John Nolan, on Monday 20 June 2022.

It is a huge privilege to be able to make a small tribute to Herr Nolan’s extraordinary contribution to teaching over a remarkable 51 years, the last nine of which have been spent here at the High School of Dundee.

John, was born in Oakley, Fife and attended Holy Name Primary in Oakley and St Andrew’s High in Kirkcaldy. After graduating with an MA (Hons) in German and a Diploma in Education from the University of Edinburgh and Moray House respectively, he began his teaching career, becoming Principal Teacher of German at St Columba’s RC High School, where he worked for an extraordinary 35 years.

Making the decision to embrace new challenges and carve his own path, John worked in a number of schools in Scotland and England for 14 years, joining the High School in 2013, to teach German parttime. From the start, it was clear for all to see that we had an enthusiastic Germanist in our midst. Many years of service had seen to it that John was a highly skilled and most knowledgeable teacher, whose engagement with his pupils fostered genuine respect and enthusiasm for the man and his subject. Passionate about German language and culture, he accompanied a group on the German exchange to Hessen in 2014, and brought German magically to life with his reworked German fairytales, delighting audiences in Trinity with his quirky and most enjoyable versions of Rotkäppchen and Rumpelstilzchen. These were just two of eight German Plays that John penned throughout his career and remain a lasting memory of joyful times, along with hard-wired German vocabulary! Through this and his passion for his subject, he has left an indelible imprint on countless pupils and on the whole community. Failing health has meant that John has not been physically present in school since September last year, but he continued to teach Higher German online, ever faithful to his pupils. It is a testament to his passion for teaching German and his commitment and dedication to his pupils that he remained in post through the pandemic, adapting to teaching remotely, and even ensuring extra classes for his pupils who were sitting certificate examinations this summer.

John’s career has allowed him to bring his deep conviction of the importance of languages to generations of young people across the country. Alongside this, John ensured that he used his experience, insight and understanding of effective learning to challenge current thinking. He embarked on a research project over four years and was delighted to publish his paper ‘Mehr Schein als Sein: More Appearance than Reality’ in both TES Scotland and TES England respectively. As his colleagues we were honoured and privileged to be able to discuss his findings and conclusions with John earlier this year and his passion, conviction and energy were infectious.

John’s motivation for this important research came from his many years as an SQA marker, examiner and sole setter for all German SQA Examinations. When, last year, John was interviewed by the press for a story marking his half century in teaching, John characteristically took the opportunity to share his conviction and the findings of his research, saying, “I formed the opinion that assessments over the last 20 years have been losing their value and I was so exercised by this that I decided to do my own academic research. For three years I asked, ‘Has German teaching testing failed Scottish pupils?’ “I looked back at 50 years of assessments as part of that and the answer was an utterly resounding and compelling, yes. Simply put, the majority of pupils are leaving with high grades but do not have the competency for those grades.”

In this respect, John’s legacy is in safe hands. Alongside many High School Teachers, Mr Neil MacKinnon (Head of Modern Languages) is Principal Assessor for French at the SQA and we are fully invested in the current reform of Scottish Education, ensuring that all voices are heard, particularly those of our pupils. It was particularly important to me as Rector, that I was able to give my personal commitment to John, that we would continue to ‘fight the good fight’!

Although John directed much of his energy and expertise towards this campaign, it was in his pupils, colleagues and family that he was most invested. Despite embarking on his profession when approaches to teaching and learning were quite different, John was vocal in his belief that the secret of effective teaching lay in the quality of the relationships, built over time, between teacher and learner. The fact that John remained in touch with so many of the young people whose lives he had transformed, is testament to the legendary status that he had acquired after a lifetime in teaching. For many, the interest and time that John took to understand the individual needs of each young person in his classes, was life changing. His pupils were enthused, built confidence in themselves and also had tremendous fun along the way. This culture allowed Herr Nolan to set very high standards and expectations against a backdrop of care and support where young people excelled, often surprising themselves along the way. The impact of this on countless generations of those who were lucky enough to be taught by John cannot be over-estimated and each and every one is his legacy.

Most recently, one of these young people, Anna Campbell, had the fortune to be the last pupil that John would teach. She has written the following tribute to Mr Nolan and it is a particular honour to be able to include it in full as part of this tribute:

“Mr Nolan was by far the most enthusiastic and passionate teacher I have had. Despite only having him as my teacher for one year, I feel that he has had the biggest impact through my journey in school. His passion for German was truly inspiring and having him as my first teacher on a Monday morning made Mondays sound not as bad. He made sure I only spoke German to him. This of course, was frustrating at first, but as the weeks went by, we learnt more and more about each other, and it became easier. I learned about our mutual distaste for the SQA and his love for German folk tales! He even was determined to learn and understand the rules of my favourite sport.

“Mr Nolan was too ill to come into school, therefore almost all lessons were online. At the end of each one he would attempt to play a German song for us to listen to. As he would repeatedly mention – he was not a technological genius. So often I sat there as a disjointed song played through the speakers. But these 3½ minutes were never awkward or uncomfortable, it was often the highlight of my day because I could see how excited he was to show me German music. Thanks to Mr Nolan, I wish to learn even more German and stay connected to its culture. I am honoured to say that I was Mr Nolan’s last student.”

It is with deep sorrow that we his colleagues and those in the Modern Languages Department in particular, learned of his passing. We have lost a loyal and committed colleague, whose thoughtful and measured input into professional discussion will be sorely missed.

Most importantly, however, is that in losing John, we have lost a true friend. Our deepest condolences and thoughts are with John’s wife Trish and all his family.

Lise Hudson, Rector

Mrs Rosemary Stewart

It was with deep sadness that we learnt of the death of our former colleague and friend Mrs Rosemary Stewart on 8 August 2022.

Rosemary is fondly remembered by generations of High School pupils both in her capacity as a brilliant Biology Teacher and as someone who was passionate about the welfare of her pupils. Rosemary had an innate understanding of the complex and often difficult issues that underpinned both academic performance and more importantly affected children and young people’s ability to thrive. These combined skills, alongside Rosemary’s fierce belief that gender should be no limitation to opportunity, made her an obvious choice to lead the newly formed Biology Department from its inception. Rosemary was appointed ‘Headmaster’ of Biology a mere three years after embarking on her teaching career, having come later to teaching following time in industry.

A little-known fact about Rosemary Stewart was that she pursued her career, balancing family life with study and earning an income. While her children were young, Rosemary attended college to gain Higher qualifications which today would have secured entry to the most competitive of courses. In the late 1960s, Rosemary encountered much resistance because of her gender and only as a result of her tenacity and determination, did she secure a place to study Biochemistry at the University of St Andrews. It is a testament to Rosemary’s intellect, focus and organisation that she graduated with an Honours degree in 1975, whilst raising her two young children with her husband, Bob. Within a year Rosemary had completed her teacher training at Dundee College of Education and the High School was lucky to appoint her to her first teaching post.

Taking on the leadership of the Biology department in 1979, she was instrumental in putting the discrete study of Biology ‘on the map’. Rosemary was more than a match for her male counterparts, advocating for the underdog, devoting herself to encouraging girls to pursue science and giving of her time to engage with her pupils on a human level. Although we regard this as part and parcel of the role of a teacher in 2022, Rosemary was radical in the emphasis that she placed on this vital element. She believed that success comes from nurturing, supporting and challenging young people to believe in themselves. Little wonder then, that in 1987, Rosemary was appointed Assistant Rector with responsibility for ‘Personal and Careers Guidance’. In this role, Rosemary set down and built the framework which was to become the blueprint for pastoral support in the school. She was uniquely qualified to do this basing her approach on a view that values should be lived and that there was an onus on all teachers to demonstrate the values which they wished to nurture in their pupils. This is a philosophy with which, many of us, as young teachers at DHS in the early 1990s, were imbued. We grew to understand by listening to Rosemary speak and lead and by reading her superb UCAS references in support of all High School girls applying to university (GC Stewart, Deputy Rector, wrote all the boys’ references!) that understanding the environment around a child was critical to unlocking their potential, both at school and in the world beyond.

Rosemary also managed to find time to contribute to the wider life of the school in several areas. Passionate about a number of charitable causes she gave her time and energies to championing many of these personally and professionally. Rosemary was also very much ‘up for’ adventure and challenge. She participated in several foreign school trips, most notably being part of the High School’s incredible and historic trip on the SS Uganda twice! Personally, and professionally so many of the High School Family owe Rosemary Stewart a huge debt of gratitude for being such a passionate and, at times, fierce proponent of the importance of down to earth advice and guidance, the application of kindness over everything and the power of simply being interested in others and their development and success.

Inherent in everything that Rosemary did, was the constant that her family (and her daughters in particular) came first. This was central in encouraging a generation of girls and women to believe that they had a right to ‘have it all.’ A direct and positive result of Rosemary’s influence was that this very phrase was used about me as I applied and was successful in securing a PT Guidance position in the new Guidance Team which was formed immediately following Rosemary’s retirement in 1999. These features are now fundamental to the High School in 2022 and this is in large part Rosemary’s great legacy. I hope she would be very proud that in 2022, the High School has a female Rector, Deputy Rectors, Bursar, Director of ICT, Head of External Relations and that 10 of our 25 Heads of Department and Principal and Assistant Principal Teachers of Guidance are women! Alongside the countless young lives that she influenced positively, this radical change in the representation of women in leadership roles at the High School is Rosemary’s lasting legacy to the school.

More importantly, our Integrated Curriculum recognises the central importance of exceptional Pastoral Care to success. Rosemary retired from teaching and the High School in April 1999. At the time the Rector, Mike Duncan, wrote the following tribute to Rosemary in the School Review. I include it here in full. “Countless pupils have reason to be grateful for her down to earth advice and sympathetic understanding. She has been unstinting in giving of her time to pupils and their families, particularly at moments of difficulty for the pupil. Professionalism, attention to detail and expecting the highest standards in herself and others have marked her many years’ service to the school.”

Our deepest condolences go to Rosemary’s daughters, Fiona and Moira, and to all those who were former colleagues and friends. Rosemary will be sadly missed but remembered with great affection, respect and warmth.

Lise Hudson, Rector