Valete

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 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.

Maria Cooper | RS Teacher Maria joined the Religious Studies Department in 2014 and has certainly made her mark on the school since. Maria has been an integral part of the RS team and is a highly valued colleague among her peers in the staff room. Not just prepared to go the extra yard, Maria was always willing to go the full mile and beyond for her students. Her care, devotion and sense of humour was infectious and inspired a love of learning in every single lesson. Sixth Formers who have had the privilege to be taught Christian Ethics by Maria will join me in appreciating her knowledge and expertise of the subject. I will miss Maria the next time Pipers students travel to Rome, though I am pretty certain Maria won’t miss me marching us around the Forum and up to the top of the Palatine Hill! I could say more about how incredible she is but would struggle to find the words. May I just simply say for the record that Maria is an outstanding teacher who has brought great happiness to Pipers. We wish her well as she launches into the next part of her adventure, journeying back to the West Country to be closer to where she grew up and where many of her family still live. Stepping away from work will give Maria more of an opportunity to watch her favourite team Manchester City as they try to regain the title they lost this season (sorry Maria I had to mention it!). ‘Coops’, I am sure that the students will echo me in saying that we will miss you to the moon and back.

Coral Humber | Lifeguard and PE Assistant Coral Humber joined the school as lifeguard and PE Assistant in September 2018. She quickly created a fantastic atmosphere around the poolside and built good relationships with the regular swimmers of the school. She began to coach some of the squad sessions and supported the pupils to develop technique in confidence in their galas throughout the year. She worked hard to plan and organise fixtures across a range of sports and supported the department in many ways. By October 2019, the lure of Thailand where she had spent the summer was too great and she moved there to train to be a scuba diving instructor.

Caroline Kearsey | Teacher of Art Carrie joined Pipers in 2005 initially as Acting Head of Art and then as a part–time Art teacher. Her enthusiasm for her subject and positive good humour was instantly apparent and she quickly became an integral part of the Art Department. Over the years she has taught students of all ages from Year 4 up to Year 13 inspiring young people to develop their creative skills, have confidence in their own abilities and achieve exciting artwork of a high standard, always in a fun, enjoyable way. Being such a creative person, Carrie is always on the lookout to extend her skills. Her own time was often spent taking part in art workshops to learn new techniques such as throwing pots on the wheel, clay figure modelling or stained-glass construction. Anyone who has been to the school’s Christmas Fair will no doubt already know the wonderfully colourful glass ornaments that Carrie has for sale on her stall. All these new skills that she learnt herself she brought into the classroom both in her lesson and in her ever-increasingly well-attended Art clubs. Carrie is an extremely talented person with a high level of skill in many areas of Art, Craft and Design. She has a real passion for her subject which she transfers to her students. Her projects are always innovative and risk taking, generating new challenges for her students and herself. Who can forget the fantastic, colourful flamingos or giant hanging fish created by her younger students on Prep Art days? At the other end of the scale she has worked tirelessly with GCSE and A Level students, motivating them to develop their individual skills in all areas of Art but especially with 3D work. Most recently the Year 13s have benefitted from Carrie’s skill as a glass artist and produced some unique and beautiful pieces in this medium. Carrie has always had an excellent rapport with her students creating a friendly relaxed environment where students feel comfortable and able to achieve their potential. She cares for and takes an interest in the individual needs of each student, making them feel valued for who they are and for this reason is much loved. Carrie has been a highly dedicated member of the Department who works well as part of a team and is a loyal, caring and supportive colleague. She has contributed much to the life of the Art Department, frequently giving time and energy way beyond her required working hours. Many is the occasion when she could be found, well after the cleaners had packed up and finished for the dayl, working on reports or preparing visual exemplar for her lessons. The hours spent on creating numerous ambitious sets for school productions in the days before gobos and back projection and the days put into selflessly helping mount and display school art exhibitions is testament to her generosity of spirit and professionalism. She has taken part in many school trips both national and international, including stepping in at the last minute on a Sixth Form study tour to Venice in 2010. She is proactive and innovative when working under pressure, and always prepared to go the extra mile. She also has a great sense of humour which is greatly appreciated in times of pressure. Carrie will be greatly missed by students and colleagues alike and we wish her all the very best for her retirement and future creative endeavours.

David Leith | Head of Prep David came back as Head of Prep in September 2017 full of enthusiasm and new ideas. He quickly implemented new core values which were embraced by the Prep community. David established links with the Metro Bank and encouraged a wider understanding of monetary systems and values. He encouraged the girls to use their initiative and be creative in order to raise money for charity. A particularly memorable initiative was the £5 challenge where girls were given £5 from the Bursary and encouraged to ‘grow’ its value for charity. Girls raised money in a number of ways from washing cars to dog walking. Spreadsheets and presentations with details of income and expenditure were an integral part of the process and with his encouragement the girls always rose to the challenge and raised huge sums of money for their chosen charity. His love of teaching mathematics rubbed off on the girls who thoroughly enjoyed his inventive Mathematical games and fondly referred to him as ‘Master Mathematician’.

Jane Mediratta | HR Manager Jane has been the HR Manager here at Pipers for the best part of seven years and introduced many changes in the school. Developing processes and procedures to support the school and staff, she saw the role grow over her time here. Starting as part-time, it was clear that the HR requirements on schools were increasing and she was joined by Bridget 18 months ago to provide a full-time HR office. Jane provided a calm approach and was a source of HR advice and guidance for a number of people in the School. She developed a very thorough process of the complex safeguarding checks that need to be conducted in schools and passed the scrutiny of a good number of ISI inspections. Jane moves on to a similar role in another school.

Emma Morrison | Teaching Assistant – Prep Emma joined Pipers in 2018 as a Prep Teaching Assistant. She has been involved in supporting girls of all ages in Prep and taken part in numerous trips and events. Emma has been active in both Sports and Drama, where one of her highlights was ‘splurging’ Mrs Ness-Gifford during the Year 6 Bugsy Malone production week. Whilst working at Pipers she completed her Degree in Education from the University of Bedfordshire. Emma leaves Pipers to start a School Centred Initial Teacher Training course at Widmer End Primary School, where she will be able to fulfil her goal of becoming a qualified Primary School Teacher. 62 Liza Rivers | Registrar Liza joined Pipers from Dair House in 2017. During her time with us, she worked with diligence, warmth and a huge smile as she strived to make the Admission journey for all families considering Pipers as special as it could possibly be. Pipers is full of so many wonderful families, many of them came across Liza’s cheery disposition as part of the process. Liza left Pipers before Christmas 2019 to join Alpha Schools to oversee Admissions within the 13 Schools owned by the group. We wish her all the very best in this next exciting chapter in her career.

Lisa Rowett | Food & Nutrition Technician Lisa joined Pipers Corner in 2012 as the Food Technician and has been an integral member of the Food Department. She has adapted to working with a variety of teachers in the last eight years giving them support, friendship and many cups of coffee. Lisa has shown many skills throughout her time at Pipers and helped to keep the department running smoothly. One of her greatest assets was her warm and caring nature. Students from all year groups across the school have welcomed her support and comfort from time to time. The students in the leaving cohort of Year 11 affectionately named her “Ro Ro”. She was their go to person in times of crisis or joy and she was able to steer them through turbulent times. Lisa has always been involved in whole school functions from Founder’s Day to House activities and her infectious happiness will be missed by all students and staff.

Katie Spencer-Blake | Drama Assistant Katie Spencer-Blake leaves us after one year, but in that time has become a vital and treasured member of the Drama team for colleagues and students alike. It is no exaggeration to say we simply can’t imagine life in the department without her, and she will be hugely missed. From her incredible organisational skills, to her pro-active can-do attitude, Katie took every backstage task in her stride and had that magical quality of knowing what needed to be done and doing, even before you thought of it yourself. Whether it be backcombing 60 hairstyles, or hollowing out the inside of a photocopier, all in the name of artistic endeavour, Katie rose to every challenge the Drama department gave her and did so with unflappable calm. We will miss Katie’s kindness, her positivity, her willingness to provide chocolate and most of all her ability to make us all laugh every single day. Katie may have only been with us for a year, but she will be our friend and part of the Drama department history for always.

Kate Spinney | Head of Prep PE Kate joined the school as Head of Prep PE maternity cover in September 2016, which was made permanent the following year. Her confident and enthusiastic personality was infectious and she developed the Prep PE to what it is today. She was hugely popular with students and parents alike and she used the newly introduced Prep games afternoons to provide opportunities for regular fixtures and competition across the different age groups. Kate was a supportive and passionate PE Teacher and celebrated success at all levels and across all sports. She gave freely of her own time and was an incredibly supportive member of the department.

Bridget Thompson | HR Manager

Bridget joined the HR office to add some additional hours and provide advice and guidance over the whole week. She brought expertise in the HR field to a school environment and helped develop our recruiting processes. Analysis of exit interviews and staff well-being surveys provided input to the SLT Sue Harris | Librarian In September 2016 Pipers proudly opened its new state-of-the-art Library and Sue Harris became its Librarian. Sue came to us with a degree in History and Librarianship and over 30 years’ experience of inspiring others, especially students, to read not just to learn but for pleasure too. As soon as Sue arrived, student numbers in the Library started to increase and the Library is now regularly full at break and lunchtimes. Sue’s genuine and deepfelt zeal for reading was infectious and many students who had thought that they didn’t like reading found themselves begging for the next book in a series or by the same author. Sue established weekly Library lessons for Years 7 and 8. She devised all sorts of activities to lure and inspire the students to share her love of reading. They learned not only how to use the Library and its many learning resources but how to make and develop their own reading choices. Sue habitually spent her evenings researching authors, books, websites and other publications and at weekends she wrote her responses to each student in their Reading Dialogue Journals. Sue’s appreciation of Young Adult fiction also gave her a deep appreciation of the mindset of teenagers and allowed her to make compelling suggestions when mentoring students with their reading choices. Her favourite novel was ‘1984’ by George Orwell (she was a glutton for dark, edgy dystopia!) but she was also known to sigh over poignant romances, wonder at the world of magical realism or clap her hands with glee at the antics of sci-fi adventures. Her main passion was Netball and she set up weekend training sessions, leading to Pipers Neball teams competing in the Wycombe Junior leagues. The success of these was echoed in the improved standard within the school fixtures and she leaves behind her a legacy of talented and enthusiastic prep pupils eager to develop further as they move up the school. She left in April 2020 to take on the position of Director of Sport at Manor Lodge School.

and has helped to shape the staff well-being agenda. Pipers will benefit from a re-structure in the HR Department, which was guided by Bridget’s input and the school will benefit from a full time Head of

IN MEMORIUM...

HR and an HR assistant from September. It is said that a reader lives a thousand lives. Although Sue’s life was cut heartbreakingly short at 55 years old by a malignant brain tumour in May 2020, she did indeed feel that she had lived many lives through her empathy with the characters she encountered in her wide reading. During one of her school assemblies she talked of gaining, through reading well-researched fiction, a better insight into the lives of those who had: been on incredible adventures; dared to defy convention for love; struggled with their mental health; followed their dreams; suffered prejudice or been displaced by war, to name but a few examples. Sue also inspired great literary excitement among the students, shadowing and celebrating national book awards such as the Carnegie Medal and she even co-founded our own regional award, the Bucks Book Award. Perhaps Sue’s greatest legacy to Pipers was the creation of our Literary Festivals. A lasting testament to her vision and hard work, the hugely successful Festivals that she organised featured talks and workshops by well-known and topically current authors such as Lucy Worsley, Lauren Child, Sarah Crossan, Eva Clarke and Onjali Q. Raúf. During the last year of her life, Sue wore a specially made silver locket inscribed with the words: “So many books, so little time”, a moving demonstration of her unwavering passion for reading. Sue will be remembered with deep affection, gratitude and awe by Pipers staff, parents and students for many years to come. 63

A reader lives a thousand lives before she dies. The woman who never reads lives only one.

In loving memory of Mrs Sue Harris, our beloved Librarian. We will forever be grateful for all of the compassion you have shown all of us as well as the time and effort you have put into our lovely library.

Doodles credit: Mrs Hamilton (Second in English), K Pepper (Upper Sixth), V Willott (Lower Sixth), A Hill (Year 11), K Purrington (Year 11). Thank you to Mr Webber, Mr Barnett and Mr Hawkins for helping make our launch event wall. Thank you to Mr Ranford and Mrs Hamilton for coordinating the project. Thank you to Mrs Walker for the design assistance.

Pipers Lane, Great Kingshill, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP15 6LP theschool@piperscorner.co.uk 01494 718255 www.piperscorner.co.uk www.facebook.com/PipersCornerSchool @PipersCornerSch