Farewell to Mrs Wyatt

Junior School Staff 1988 Left to Right: Mr T Maxfield, Br K. Moore, Mr C. Stilwell, Mrs A. Gleeson, Mr P. Rlchards, Mr R. Kelly, Mr J. Lamborn, Mr H. Valentine, Mrs E. Lane, Mrs J. Wyatt, Mr M. Hales (Head of Junior School), Mr K Hannah, Miss M. Synon, Miss R. Yaxley, Mr G. Dean.

In December 2014 Trinity College said farewell to Mrs Janine Wyatt who had been the Junior School Librarian for the past 27 years.

Mrs Wyatt created a magical wonderland in the Junior Library and anyone who had snuggled up to hear her read a story will know how she truly made the characters come to life and leap off the page. Many farewell events were held by the College and Mrs Wyatt will be greatly missed. Below is an excerpt from the speech made by Thomas Maxfield (’13) at the Junior School Farewell Assembly.

The day that Dad (Mr Tony Maxfield 5W) came to me to ask if I would like to write this speech I have to say I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to speak about such a dedicated and passionate woman. The funny thing is, that as each day passed since Dad first came to me, I was reminded one by one of my own memories in the Junior School.

As the memories came flooding back I recall that Mrs Wyatt’s presence in the Junior School library is a presence that both my brother Wesley and I thought would never end, after all Mrs Wyatt had resided in the Junior School library right throughout my Trinity College journey just like many other Trinity College students, both in my year group or years before me. Just a few statistics because every good speech needs a few good statistics. Mrs Wyatt in her 27 years of teaching at the College has taught around 6,400 students and providing that each student borrowed one or two books each week from the library, she has processed almost 230,400 if not 460,800 books over her teaching career! Providing that each boy did read the books and each book was on average around 100 pages then 23,040,000 pages would have been read in total. That probably is enough of the statistics, but I think you understand just how much Mrs Wyatt has done for the College from a statistical point of view.

My first memories stretched back simply to the manner in which Mrs Wyatt read her selected book of the day. Now I have to tell you, I have been read a lot of books by quite a large amount of people over my short life, but I don’t think you could have found an individual as passionate and enthusiastic as Mrs. Wyatt when it comes to reading stories. Every character had their own unique voice and expression, every pause brought about by either a comma, or a full stop, was emphasized to build the right amount of drama and suspense. And in the unlikely circumstance of encountering an exclamation mark, both teachers and students alike residing in the rowing shed on the other side of the College could hear Mrs Wyatt’s enthusiasm! It didn’t matter what Mrs Wyatt was reading it could have been a local extract from the Sunday Times or Matt Preston’s new

cook book but Mrs Wyatt made it sound as if you were reading the most enticing novel you had ever read. You were not always sure of what you were reading, but you knew it was epic one way or another.

As days continued to go by in the lead up to this speech I continued to be enlightened and reminded of my own experiences with Mrs Wyatt and her wonderful library. I never thought I would be one to say this line, but back when I was in the Junior School the library was defined with the quirky and humorous Roald Dahl books, books such as the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) or The Twits. My very first lesson involved Mrs Wyatt reading the first chapter of the BFG and still to this day Mrs Wyatt’s impressions of each unique character is something that I can hear echoing in the fond walls of the Junior School library.

A little more of my own personal experience with Mrs Wyatt takes me to the Noonan Senior Lecture Theatre. Mrs Wyatt organized John Flanagan, the author of the renowned Rangers Apprentices series to come in and present to us, which provided an alternative aspect of reading altogether. I have never been a huge reader, however the presentation that John Flanagan provided was the edge that I needed personally to read. I loved that book and eventually the entire series, in fact I loved it so much, I read it in the car to and from school every day to both my brother Wesley and Dad. This was the truly most amazing thing about Mrs Wyatt, no matter what your view was of reading she could find a book that you would be satisfied with nonetheless.

Taking an active part in all areas of the Junior School, Mrs Wyatt took charge of the scoring at the athletics and swimming carnivals and till this date I still remember trying to convince her that I had come first if not second in a race when it was evidently clear that I had finished last! For students who love to play Chess, Mrs Wyatt has taken great pride marching the Trinity College Junior School Chess Team into battle each year with great success. Father’s Day is an endearing celebration in the Junior School and each year Mrs Wyatt sold tickets for the renowned Father’s Day raffle.

Mrs Wyatt is undoubtedly a character who was fully invested in the welfare of students and whenever I had difficulties in my Junior School life, the library was always open. It didn’t matter whether I just needed to borrow a handball because none of my mates had brought a handball for the morning game or whether it was because I needed to borrow her phone to call Mum about the lunch that I had left at home… again, this in particular was an incredibly frequent occurrence, in fact I’m almost certain that if we were to somehow review the amount of phone calls that each student had made on Mrs Wyatt’s phone my name would be the highest!

Finally I would like to say that for the duration of Mrs Wyatt’s time in the Trinity College Junior School she has built up a legacy in the way in which a library should be run. Providing kindness, consideration and caring throughout years of teaching and for many students Mrs Wyatt was the bridge they required to enjoy their reading. There is no doubt in my mind that Mrs Wyatt will be missed intensely and will never ever be replaced because there is nobody quite like Mrs Wyatt.

I would like to finish with a quote by Coco Chanel: “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” And Mrs Wyatt you were different in the best possible way a teacher could be different and there is no way you could ever be replaced.

Wishing you all the very best in your retirement.

Thomas Maxfield (’13)