Teaching news.
In the common room. imilarly, the future of WGS is constantly being shaped by the flow of students and staff through its doors, and this year has been no exception to that rule. September saw numerous arrivals: Kathryn Burden joined the music department, and the English department welcomed Mark Payne and the return of Phil Lovesey. Later in the year also saw the arrival of Caroline Hodgshon in DT, Simon Marsden as our new bursar and the appointment of the Head of the new Junior School, Andrew Hymer. We also greeted a number of staff on a temporary basis, some of whom returned for a second or third time. Helen Peat, Danni Wilcox and Dave Lowe all stepped in to provide cover for maternity leave; they were joined by former staff members Julieanne Lloyd and Nuala Gilchrist. We are immensely grateful for their hard work and the support they offered the students whilst they were here. In addition to the ever growing brood of WGS babies, Nikki Guidotti and Tom Baker were blessed with the arrival of their second
child, Louis; Claudine Jones and her partner Iain celebrated the birth of Sebastian; whilst during the summer holiday Maria and Simon O’Malleys’ second son, Francesco, was born. A number of members of staff also took up new positions: Jonathan Hall became Head of Year 9; Mark Benfield was appointed Head of English and Assessment; whilst Simon Hinchliffe became Head of sixth form with Chris Preston and Nigel Crust as his deputies. As we welcomed and congratulated so many members of staff, we also bade a fond farewell to others. At the end of the Autumn term, Ray Morris left us to concentrate on his charity and volunteer work; he was followed in April by our former bursar, Simon Jones, who went on to become Foundation Secretary for the Warwick Group of schools; and our gallant maternity cover team also left at the end of the year: Julieanne Lloyd returned to her SENCo role in Shrewsbury, Nuala Gilchrist slipped back into retirement, Dave Lowe resumed his peripatetic music teaching role, whilst Helen Peat returned home to the Peak District and Danni Wilcox became Head of girls games at St. Mary’s School (Worcester). They were joined by Pete Curtis, one of our hard-working IT chaps, who left to become a developer for a company working in the public sector. The summer term also saw the departure of some of our longest serving staff. Jann Boss,
Head’s PA for both Bernard Trafford and Vincent Darby, moved on to pastures new after 14 years, becoming PA to the Chief Master of King Edward’s School (Birmingham). Finally, we wished a happy retirement to the two Tonys’: Tony Page, who retired as Head of economics and business Studies after 29 years, and Tony Bennett who left his role as Head of PSHE/independent learning and teacher of physics after a similarly lengthy service of 27 years to the school. We wish everyone who has moved on from WGS during this past year all the happiness, health and success that they deserve. The summer also saw the now seemingly traditional WGS wedding. This year Kate Ward became Mrs Wainwright as she married her partner, Dan. Congratulations to them both! As this has been my final year as Common Room Chair, I’d like to thank not only the committee of staff who have worked with me over the past two years, but everyone on the staff for their support and guidance in a role that is, at times, demanding – that is when we aren’t debating lunch queues and the price of tea and coffee. As I pass the baton to the true Master of the Common Room, John Johnson, I wish him and his team all the best in what I’m sure will be an exciting 500th anniversary for the school. JW
Louis Baker
Francesco O’Malley
Sebastian Jones
A wise person (and I’ll leave it to you to determine who it was) once said: “Always in motion, the future is.”
S
4 | Wulfrunian 2011