The Faculty of Mathematics, ICT & Computer Science, 2011-12

Richard has left to become the Deputy Headmaster at Townley Grammar school for Girls. Having arrived in 1997, Richard made an enormous impact on the school from the outset. He showed himself to be an outstanding economics teacher and a man prepared to give up vast amounts of time for pupils outside the classroom. He was heavily involved in the sports programme, especially the rugby teams, though his own game of choice was football and indeed watching it, preferably his own team Gillingham. Additionally he accompanied World Challenge Trips overseas and was very much perceived as a man who did rather than spoke about how much he did. With these blessings he leapt up the ‘cursus honorum’ first becoming Head of Economics, then Head of Sixth Form and then acting Deputy Head. In between he managed also to marry Lisa Bennett, a biology teacher at the school, and become the father to two charming daughters. His head was one of reasonableness and of firmness when firmness was required. His presence in the classroom and in the common room will be much missed.

Dominique Ellis

Dominique joined the Economics Department having worked for more than a decade in the city. Educated locally at Newstead Wood and then at Cambridge she was to prove a woman of strong convictions and imbued with the acumen to turn her hand to teaching other subjects such as geography. A striking character with a love of pilates, ballet and the theatre in general, she brought to the classroom a certain individuality and flair. She has now moved to Alleyns where we wish her the greatest of success.

Fermina Marche

Fermina was sadly with us for but a short time. She struck you for someone so young as someone who really understand the craft of teaching. She was positively brimming with enthusiasm for everything to do with

Physics. She was never happier than when she was motivating the pupils in the joys of her particular branch of science. She worked phenomenally hard in a school where the staff all work so hard. She became an Olavian very quickly. She will be greatly missed and much appreciated at her new school, Dulwich College.

Thom

Martin

Thom came to the history department where he showed himself more than capable of filling the very large shoes left by his predecessor. Thom was actually an ancient historian, having studied Classical Civilisation at Reading University. Members of the Humanities Department as a whole seem to be there at all times from almost the dawn chorus to the wee small hours of the evening, and Thom was no exception. A superlative practitioner of his subject, he was to be found helping pupils individually and giving them the encouragement they needed. He greatly enjoyed sport and was a man who gave up virtually every Saturday to help with both cricket and rugby teams. He coached his teams after school with considerable success and also accompanied the department’s trips overseas to the First World War and Second World War battle sites. He will be an enormous asset in his new school in Bexley.

Debra Ott

Debra Ott has taken a very well-deserved retirement after a lengthy career in teaching mathematics. She was actually part-time at the school, but she was such a dedicated teacher that one really never had the impression that she was not there every day. She was the voice of common sense and was certainly not abashed at expressing herself lucidly. She was very much admired by her colleagues in the mathematics department for her devotion to her classroom work. We wish her and her husband a delightful long rest and no doubt lots of dog walking.

We would also like to send out our very best wishes to Silky Ng, Esi Amono-Kuofi, Heather Pearse, Jack Little, and William Byrne, and to thank them for their service to the school.