Janet Allen | Science Teacher Janet joined the Science Department in the Summer Term of 2019, having come out of retirement to help us fill a temporary vacancy. She ended up staying for the whole year and has been an absolute delight to have around. Every student who has been taught by Janet can feel truly lucky. Her calm and enthusiastic approach to everything has enabled students to really engage in her classroom and leave with a real ‘can do’ spirit. Janet will be sadly missed by not only the students, but by all of the Science Department and we wish her well as she moves back to her old school, Tring Park, to help them fill a another temporary vacancy. Janet’s motto in life is clearly about putting the students first and we wish her all the best in her retirement when she finally stops teaching! Kim Bignall | PE Teacher Kim joined the school as a PE Teacher in September 2018. She brought with her huge passion for the subject, as well as a great knowledge of Football which she has helped grow during her time at the school – through entry into the district league, national competitions and tours to Manchester City and Chelsea FC. During her two years at the school, Kim has shown herself to be an IT whizz and is always one step ahead of the department with her ideas, combining traditional sport with modern technology and software in her lessons. She has hugely developed her subject knowledge and confidence across all areas of the curriculum and has forged excellent relationships with the students in her groups. We wish her well as she takes on a permanent role at Cressex Community School in September. Gemma Bingham | Music Assistant Gemma has only been with us for one academic year, yet has made a positive impact and will be missed by all, having had contact with every year 60
group. Whether doing Pre-Prep Choir, Prep rock bands, Bugsy Malone, working multifacetedly backstage with the school production, helping stressed students with GCSE composition or joining discussions in Upper Sixth tutor time, Gemma is interested and practical, as well as being the calmest person the department has seen. Even when taking a fire register or after melting a significant amount of acetate in the laminating machine, her delivery of news is always gentle, measured and reassuring. Perhaps she is inspired by her family’s three tortoises to take a steady and realistic approach to life but she has been an encouraging and restful presence in a busy department. We wish her all the best in the coming years and hope that all her musical endeavours are successful. Dawn Bradley-Buxton | Head of Prep Music Dawn and Harriet Faith (Director of Music) had the privilege of being Pipers novices together in September 2016, learning lots from each other right from the start. Dawn has been a source of enthusiasm in so many areas, most notably building up instrumental music and brass teaching and introducing the wonderful P-bones to the music department (colourful plastic trombones to the uninitiated). She has been responsible for all of the Pre-Prep teaching (and report writing), music making and concert-staging and has tirelessly clocked up many, many miles travelling between all of her different teaching spaces. ‘Ms B-B’, as she is fondly known, has taken great joy and pride in building up our school orchestra, Sinfonia, which has been meeting for almost four years. She has single-handedly shaped this ensemble into a highly accomplished and confident orchestra with an increasing repertoire at their fingertips. Their incredibly fast and furious rendition of ‘Rock Around the Clock’ was most memorable and launched Founder’s Day Assembly with pizazz last year. Ms B-B leaves a significant gap to be filled with her energy for music making and her passion for introducing our younger students to the wonder of her subject. We wish her all the best as she takes up a new baton as Head of Prep Music in a school in Hertfordshire.
