I Will Miss the People

I will miss the people –and the bacon sandwiches!

We say a sad, yet fond farewell to retiring Bursar and Clerk to the Governors, Richard Metcalfe. His unabiding and genial presence, his unfailing kindness and care for everyone will be greatly missed by staff and students alike. Here is what he has to say about his time at RGS and his plans for retirement.

A family affair: Richard and his wife Nicola with son Chris (01-03) and Sarah Metcalfe (née Harding) (teacher 12-15) at their wedding in July 2015

What year did you start at the RGS?

1999. I came here from Durham University – where I arrived as a student and stayed for 31 years, the last 10 as its Director of Estates and Buildings. A native of Barnsley, before that I had spent 11 very happy years at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield – a school which shares so many values, and aspects of its history, with RGS.

As well as being Bursar, what else have you been involved with at the RGS?

Lots! Including: being a tutor; teaching General Studies, doing university practice interviews; nine trips to Italy with the U16 Easter Rugby Tour; the rugby 125th anniversary tour to Ulster; Italy with the Classics Trip; the Battlefields Trip (which seems to have been a rite of passage for so many RGS staff); and even a few House Assemblies. I have always believed that it is so valuable for administrators in education to have direct contact with the students and understand the core business of the institution. I have been lucky enough to find these great ways of doing that – especially through my tutor group, a great bunch whom I will miss. I am afraid that I don’t have much time at all for bursars who lock themselves away!

The years I have been here have seen some significant changes, which I am pleased to have been involved in – not least the school growing significantly, becoming co-educational, being incorporated as a charitable company and the starting up of the Bursary Campaign. I have also been an active member of the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association, as its North East regional secretary for many years and more recently at national level as a member of its executive committee.

There are just a few things I would rather not have been involved in – the three ‘one hundred year floods’ in four months in 2013 spring to mind. I had been used to dealing with the flooding from the river at Durham, but that gives you a bit of time to prepare as you see the water rising: however, several million litres of water suddenly heading down hill from the Town Moor is a rather different matter. Thunder Thursday took the school, and most other people in Newcastle, by total surprise, the consensus being that there had been nothing like it in living memory. We had no choice but to close the school the following day, but that witnessed a tremendous Dunkirk spirit with teams of teaching staff rallying to pull up ruined flooring and salvage pieces of furniture and equipment, followed by a massive clean up by the support staff, so that we were back in business the following day for RGS Day. The less spectacular floods in August and September caught people equally by surprise, but at least we were better prepared to deal with them. Now that the school has its own flood defence scheme, hopefully it shouldn’t see the likes of these problems again.

What will you miss about the RGS?

The people. Working with students helps defer the ageing process (at least, it does when viewed from my end – my own family might not entirely agree!). At Durham University, where I was also a college tutor, most students arrived with high A Level grades and left with a 2:1 degree (often the only immediately obvious value added being a far greater drinking capacity!). In contrast it has been very rewarding to observe the personal development of students and the value added to their life chances at the RGS, particularly for students coming here on a bursary: I can identify with them, having benefitted from support provided by the old direct grant system for my own education.