Elly Sioufi By Elliot Read
Sarah Betts By Nick Black
Beyond her teaching, Elly involved herself keenly in the wider life of the College. Her experience as a form tutor from Year 7 through to the Upper School attests to her pastoral sensibility and versatility, and confirms the strong relationships she was able to foster with those in her care. Her skilled delivery of the Wellbeing programme provided a secure forum in which her tutees felt able to discuss the issues they faced, and to navigate these with quiet confi- dence. Elly’s warmth and kindness reached colleagues, too – particularly those in the Lower School – who benefit- ed from her wisdom and insights. As one would expect from a colleague as well travelled and culturally engaged as Elly, she was a key figure in the extensive trips programme organised by the Modern Lan- guages Department. In addition to leading, for instance, the GCSE and A-level French study visit to Montpellier, Elly instituted the MFL work experience programme in France, and the Year 7 trip to St Omer and Boulogne, believing that her pupils should have the opportunity to put into practice all they have learnt. With this in view, a carefully curated itinerary meant that each day trip was packed with a range of cultural, practical and linguistic experiences. Combined, these helped to improve the pupils’ confidence immeasurably. Elly’s engagement in the co-curricular life of the College was not restricted to expeditions. Particularly during the early years of her ca- reer, Elly gave freely of her time to the coaching of sports teams. Having played rugby union to a good level at Cam- bridge, she was the first female member of staff to coach a College rugby team and, in so doing, proved herself to be a first-rate role model for pupils and colleagues alike. As Elly embarks on her early retirement, we thank her for the rich contribution she has made to the College. We will miss her erudition, wit and generosity, confident that, whilst exploring her various pursuits, she will keep in touch with the many friends that she has made throughout her time here. ◎
Sarah joined Dulwich College in January 1997 as a member of the events team, having previous- ly worked at Dulwich Prep. She quickly joined the newly created Admissions Office, working as Tim Price’s assistant, and then when Tim retired, she took over as Reg- istrar, remaining in that position for the next 20 years. Her knowledge of the pupils who have passed
figure, with many families instinctively turning to Sarah for advice as their sons travelled up through the College. During the Covid pandemic, regulations changed on an almost daily basis, making the running of entrance exams and interviews both complicated and exhausting. Throughout, Sarah was determined that testing and inter- viewing should happen on site as much as possible, and when a national lockdown was announced just before the 11+ examinations in 2021, she managed to find a way to get the second cohort in to sit those exams in a socially distanced and safe way, within a week of that announce- ment. It was a remarkable achievement. Sarah was acutely conscious that the College was a com- munity. She knew everyone by name and enjoyed the hus- tle and bustle of talking to staff as she planned the year’s events. She could also be forthright, and you had to make sure that you had thought through your own ideas when in a discussion with her. There is something else which gave Sarah an unequalled knowledge of the admissions landscape at Dulwich. She is the only person I know who worked at the College who was born in between the two great local institutions of her life, the College and the Dulwich and Sydenham Golf Course. In addition, she has lived most of her life in the Dulwich area, and this gave her an extraordinary insight into local personalities and politics. With retirement, Sarah will be able to spend more time with her family, especially the grandchildren, as well as pursuing her long-held passions for both golf and bridge. We wish her much happiness in the years ahead. ◎
Elly joined Dulwich to teach French and Spanish in September 1999, from St Dunstan’s College, Catford. After attending Old Palace School in Croydon and completing a degree in Modern Languages at New Hall, Cam- bridge (with a year abroad in Mon- tauban), Elly had spent nearly 10 years living in Paris and working as an art dealer, before returning to
through the College in that time, and of their families, is unsurpassed; indeed, her ability to recall an Alleynian’s previous school, parental address, the other boys in the year group, and any links to other boys from the same school or family is legendary. She took great pride and care in the personal side of her role, reassuring nervous candidates, thinking about who would be best to interview a particularly interesting boy, and talking with sensitivity and understanding to those who didn’t receive an offer. She had a strong rapport with headteachers, and one wrote, on hearing of Sarah’s retirement: ‘Sarah is the most approachable, humane and humorous of all the Registrars I deal with; her judgement is wise and her understanding of these complex issues we deal with instinctive.’ The scope of the Registar’s role has changed hugely over the last two decades. Numbers of applicants have risen, and computer tests have become more common, yet the human element of the role has never been lost. While the vast majority of boys have joined Dulwich through the main admissions tests, there have always been a hand- ful joining at other times; Sarah was hugely supportive of those who had found their previous schools to be an unhappy choice, and who, on joining Dulwich, went on to thrive. In addition, she put a huge amount of work into supporting bursary applications, many of the successful applicants joining in Year 7 and often being the first mem- ber of their family to come to a school like Dulwich. Sarah was always ready to guide their applications, and once the boys were at Dulwich she remained a hugely supportive
London to complete her PGCE at King’s College. It is this combination of South London roots and extensive expe- rience of life abroad, together with her linguistic training and wide-ranging cultural interests, which enabled Elly to inspire generations of pupils over a period of almost 25 years at the College. As a teacher of French, Elly believed in the importance of ensuring that her pupils had a strong grammatical foun- dation so that they had the linguistic flexibility to express themselves freely across a range of topics and in a variety of contexts. She managed her classes deftly, thanks to her calm and nurturing approach within a framework of mutual respect. Elly was as comfortable teaching be- ginners as she was guiding A-level pupils towards their examinations; with the latter, she enjoyed introducing her charges to an impressive range of art forms, spanning classical literature (such as Molière’s L’Avare ), music and film. Whatever the age of the group she was teaching, Elly’s lessons were deeply rooted in Francophone culture, this stemming from a genuine desire to share with her pu- pils her love of all aspects of the French-speaking world. Latterly, the focus of Elly’s teaching shifted to English as a Foreign Language; this involved, for the most part, sup- porting members of our boarding community, of which Elly became an integral part, with the preparation for their IELTS examinations. Thanks to her work in this area, she has enabled hundreds of pupils to thrive at university and in the world of work.
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THE ALLEYNIAN 711
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