Staff Farewells Chris arrived as Head of PE twenty seven years ago, joining a very different department and School. A team of three staff ran a programme from the gym and King Harry fields. Since taking on the role of Head of PE, Chris has made a dramatic impact on the School. Over 3,000 students graduated during his tenure and all will have been affected and encouraged by his drive, passion and commitment. His energy is boundless and many A level PE students will still live by his command of ‘work harder’. The instigation and development of the Sports Tours fundraising Committee was very much his initiative and hundreds of students benefited from the opportunity to tour, both at home and abroad. Without his passion and commitment these tours would not have happened, or would have cost the participants and their families significantly more money. During his time there have been many developments, the first being the extension of the gym to include a balcony with fitness suite. Then the Cheapside Farm was converted into the Woollams Playing Fields. Chris had a vision of every space being used for sport.
Chris Hudson
On site too, the development of the Sports Centre created a superb facility, but also posed his department many challenges. New areas of the curriculum meant the team had to come up to speed with the new taught activities, like swimming and climbing. Chris oversaw the introduction of academic PE lessons and this helped to raise the department’s profile in the School. Outstanding achievement by the pupils taking these courses was down to their commitment, intelligence and hard work, but was underpinned by high quality and engaging lessons. Chris’s formidable drive and passion was centred on the students and his desire for them to have as many, and varied, opportunities as possible and for them to strive to be the best that they could be. An outstanding sportsman in his own right, Chris instilled his high standards in all his pupils. The School’s status in sport in Hertfordshire has grown immeasurably as a result. Chris’s dedication sometimes bordered on the obsessive, and Sue and the boys certainly had to sacrifice a lot of family time to support his commitment. If you can’t beat them, join them, and so Sue, Bradley and Travis have given huge amounts of their time and energy, including sacrificing family holidays, to the School and Chris’s vision for sport. We will not only miss Chris but also the huge contribution made by Sue over the many years of her connection to the School. MJL Hilary joined the History department in 1990, in a part time capacity, and with a stated belief that she probably wouldn’t be around for long, as she might have to move out of the area. Twenty six years later she retired from the School having established herself as an integral part of the staff and a warm, trusted colleague who will be missed. Obvious from the start was her piercing intellect, love of History and her ability to develop instant rapport with her pupils. Her ability to generate enthusiasm for the subject lower down the School ensured that classes attempted numerous reconstructions, from 19th century mining conditions to medieval scriptoriums. In later years she concentrated more on Ancient History and became the bedrock on which the success of the department was built.
Hilary Swain
Hilary epitomised why outstanding teaching is really very simple: it requires three things which she had in abundance: a very deep and broad subject knowledge, reflected in the fact that she, along with Mark Davies, wrote and had published by Routledge a text book for the Ancient History course as she felt that all other available books were inadequate; an infectiously enthusiastic interest in the political machinations of ancient Rome and a passion for conveying this to her students; she cared deeply for her students and invested much time and energy in ensuring that they did the best they could. Her success as a teacher was not only reflected in the outstanding results which her students achieved but also in the fact that so many went on to read Ancient History at university. As a colleague Hilary was kind, caring and supportive, always willing to offer genuinely wise words of advice. Now that Hilary has decided to retire we can wish her and Chris well for the future and she can dedicate her time to her love of travelling and to her growing family of grandchildren. She goes with our thanks and best wishes for the future. TJM/DMR
10
Ins & Outs
The Albanian 2016