Nicola Stoney BY RICHARD SUTTON
ago. She was originally appointed in September 2012 as Careers Administrator back when Elizabeth Soare ran the department. In those days, there were three part-time Careers staff: however, over the intervening years, Nicky largely absorbed all of those roles into her own, becoming both epicentre and fount of wisdom in the department. A little-known fact is that unusually in a school of constantly rotating doors, Nicky has been based in the same office for the entirety of her time at DC, and it is a place where hundreds of pupils (and many members of staff) have benefited from her patience, understanding and resource- fulness. An extract from a recent OA email is typical of the kind of impact Nicky has had on boys’ lives: Hi Miss, I hope you are well. It’s sad to hear you’re leaving the College and I wish you the best for everything in the future. I wanted to email particularly to thank you for all your help. I’ve now heard back from all five universities and have got offers from all of them [...] Without your dedication and help I wouldn’t have been able to get these. Colleagues who had the pleasure of teaching Sam Mor- rissey through his time at the College will also have known Nicky as a Dulwich mother. Sam’s emotional intelligence, bonhomie and mental acuity are very much his mother’s own hallmarks, and unsurprisingly he is now performing well at the beginning of his medical career at Queen’s University, Belfast. In fact several years ago, it was Nicky who suggested to Sam that he try Fives, my Wednesday afternoon option for Sixth Formers; I had helped Sam off-timetable with some of his work for GCSE English and it was felt he might risk a new Games option if, at least, he knew the member of staff running it. Fives was flag- ging post-Covid and needed an injection of fresh blood.
It is a genuine privilege to write this short farewell to a wonderful colleague, Nicola, who has been variously described as both dedicated and knowledgeable but also unflappable, wise and unfailingly kind. As a long-serving member of the oper- ational team, Nicky’s roles at Dulwich have enabled her to work with the widest range of College staff; each in turn has lament- ed her departure, realising that not only will we miss her inex-
haustible energy but also that generosity of manner and abundant goodwill which are two of her defining traits. After almost 12 years’ dedicated service to the College, Nicky leaves for an exciting new post as Head of Careers & Futures at Sydenham High School in which she will be marvellous. They are lucky to have secured her services. It is also entirely typical of her that she has spent the last few months writing the most comprehensive set of notes for her replacements, downloading the entire contents of her head into a brand new team. Until April 2024, Nicky was Head of Careers at Dulwich, a post to which she was promoted internally several years
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THE ALLEYNIAN 712
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