Farewell to Staff July 2010

Retirement

Ms Lynn Vale started at the High School in September 1993 as Head of English and became Head of the English Faculty in January 2001.  Ms Vale was an excellent Head of English and Head of the English Faculty as she had a meticulous approach to the work, but also took every opportunity to ensure that the students had a good experience.  Her love of English was very clear in her lessons which I have had the privilege to observe over the last few years.  Her lessons were extremely well planned and executed.  She believed in having a fast pace to lessons and ensuring that students learned something new from each lesson.  In January 2006 Ms Vale became an Acting Assistant Head and when I arrived in the school her role became permanent.  She was also given the responsibility of Strategic Lead for Learning and Teaching.  We hope that Ms Vale enjoys her retirement and finds time to do all the things she has been saving up to do.

Mr Keith Davies joined the teaching profession after working for 23 years as an engineer in the Electricity Supply Industry at various locations around the country.  He retrained as a teacher in 1997 and taught in Ipswich and Great Yarmouth.  He joined the High School for Girls in September 1999 as a Teacher of Science, and during his time here has worked as a Science, Physics and Mathematics teacher.  He has also been an examiner for Physics.  He has been a valued colleague within the Science department and the students have thoroughly enjoyed his lessons.  I know that Mr Davies is looking forward to cycling around various parts of the country and taking extended holidays.  We wish him all the very best in his retirement.

Mr Benjamin Clare-Gray joined the school in November 2010 to cover part of Mrs Kelly’s maternity leave.  He worked in the Religious Studies department and made a positive impact on the school.  He was particularly proactive in getting involved in school life, especially the Duke of Edinburgh scheme.  

 

Ofsted

The school received a letter from OFSTED indicating that as we were an “outstanding School” in September 2006, then our school was looked at and evaluated by Her Majesty’s Inspectors in an “interim assessment”.  This assessment helps to decide whether a school needs to be inspected in the coming months, or whether it can be deferred.  As a result of this assessment we were deemed to have continued to have performed at an “outstanding” level, therefore we would not be visited by OFSTED before September 2011.  This is excellent news and I wish to thank all my colleagues for enabling me to continue to develop the school and maintain such a high level of performance.  

 

New Staff

It has been a very busy time for the High School over the past few months and I am delighted to announce the following new appointments:

Deputy Head ................................................................................  Mr McShane

Acting Director of Post-16 ...................................................  Mrs Lloyd-Owen

Curriculum Director for the ADaPT Faculty ............  Miss Leathart (Previously Technology Faculty)

Team Leader for the DEAL and PLTS ..........................  Mr Haynes

Subject Leader for Technology ....................................  Mr Silverthorn

Subject Leader for Biology...............................................  Mr Scott

Core Curriculum Leader for Science ……………………  Ms Cundy

Year 9 Co-ordinator ..........................................................  Mrs Dunnett

Teacher of Mathematics ...............................................  Mr Yip

Teacher of History/Politics ...........................................  Miss Sams (Mrs Rogers)

Science Technician ..........................................................  Miss Lloyd

Lead Cover Supervisor ...................................................  Mrs McClelland (Miss Cook)

 

I want to wish Miss Irvine and her partner and Miss Whittaker and her partner very sunny and bright days, for their weddings, full of lasting memories as they both get married over the summer holidays.  Miss Irvine will return as Mrs Le Prevost and Miss Whittaker as Mrs Major. 

Further congratulations go to Miss Davies who got married in May – her name changes to Mrs Priest from September.  We wish you long health and happiness together.  Although Mrs Thornton, Assistant Head and Director of Post-16, is not leaving us until part-way through September, it is an opportune moment to wish her some rest before her nights are disturbed by her new arrival.  We wish to thank her for everything she has done for making the Sixth Form experience such a success. 

 

2011

Please take a look at the 2008-2011 newsletters here and the 2011-2013 here.

 

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