Carmel Baxter Wilks By Fiona Angel
Sue Mulholland By Nathalie Whittington
Carmel is one of the few people at the College who is known by just their first name. Everyone knows Carmel; her warmth, her bold, no-nonsense attitude and her wicked sense of humour have been a staple of the Medi- cal Centre since she joined us in 2013. Starting as a School Nurse, she was promoted to Lead Nurse within three years.
fully juggled being an outstanding mother with being our Lead Nurse, a GP practice nurse and a nurse prescriber. Not content with this, she has successfully completed qualifications to enhance her medical practice, alongside learning the skills to become a confident and proficient aesthetics practitioner. Ever the entrepreneur, on days off she practises these skills on many increasingly younger looking locals! Carmel’s formidable presence in the Medical Centre will be sorely missed; she is one of only a handful of staff who is able to assemble Krypton Factor-worthy pop-up tents in the rain on rugby pitches, manoeuvre the medical golf buggy with purpose through pat-ball courts mid-game, and issue off-games notes only to those with genuine illnesses. There are so many of us as colleagues, pupils or parents who owe Carmel both a professional and personal debt of gratitude: she has always been the one who has gone out of her way to support, to champion, and to make things happen for the good of the community. Carmel’s leaving has been as carefully managed as all aspects of her work. She has handed over to our new Lead Nurse, Hafsa, with characteristic generosity, clarity and trust, in order to ensure that what is most certainly her Medical Centre and the community about which she so cares so much continue to thrive in her absence. ◎
day), holiday time, and general spare time to working with others and for the betterment of others, such as in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya and the Gua Africa projects. In the SSLP ‘Thinking About’ series of talks or the College-wide awareness events that Sue has either led on or collaborated in, we have been encouraged to consider vitally important areas such as Refugee Week, International Women’s Day, Eco Week and sustainability, LGBT+ History Month, Holocaust Memorial Day, Black History Month, and Mental Health Awareness Week, to name but a few. Sue is a generous nurturer; this can be seen in the lush greenness that envelopes our tranquil office space and the variety of plants that she tends to (including a fig tree that I am now going to do my best to keep healthy and alive), even coming in to care for them during the holidays. How- ever, she is also generous with her time, which is a true gift in such a busy environment as the College, and which is appreciated by the colleagues who often pop in to ben- efit from Sue’s listening ear, or to gain some thoughtful, tell-it-like-it-is-not-holding-back advice. Most of all, Sue is a passionate educator. She teaches with imagination and creativity. She understands both the intellectual and the personal needs of her pupils and colleagues and, through approaches such as her Creative Wellbeing programme, goes beyond the curriculum to meet both. The Free Learning ethos that she has de- veloped as an integral and central part of the College’s curriculum and calendar has encouraged us all to enquire, challenge, explore, reflect and, perhaps most importantly, empathise. We wish Sue and her family all the very best as she prepares to take up her role as Deputy Head for Whole School Enrichment at the British International School, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Thank you for gracing us with your energy, vision, compassion… and style! ◎
Sue’s wonderful energy burst into Dulwich College in September 2014. Over the last nine years she has brought visionary learning approaches, an absolute commit- ment to community (both in the College and far wider afield) and a driven purpose and work ethic that are inspirational. She has held a series of influential and unique leadership roles. She was Direc-
tor of Art, then Director of Art and DT, after which she became Director of Free Learning, during which time she was also Head of Inclusion. In addition to this, she had a key role in terms of the work done together with part- nership schools. Throughout, Sue has led with integrity, imagination, drive and fierce commitment. Having shared an office with Sue for the last two years, I have had the pleasure of getting to know her beyond on a personal level. She is a glorious force of nature – that force becoming almost nuclear if she is on her third Diet Coke of the day or fuelled by whatever chocolate ‘knock-off’ from Lidl she has filled the office treat bowl with that week. She applies that force of nature in her absolute commitment to, and energy for, all aspects of her responsibilities; you can rely on Sue to not just to get a job done, but to get it done brilliantly. Sue is a glittering style icon. This is important! In the words of one of her inspirations, the late, great Vivienne Westwood, ‘Fashion is very important. It is life-enhancing and, like everything that gives pleasure, it is worth doing well.’ I will miss the book-cupboard-turned-wardrobe- space in our office, which made me feel as if I had been transported from Dulwich to the King’s Road. Sue is an absolute champion for equality and justice: she dedicates her reading time, podcast-listening time (often while slipping in a 5–10km run before starting the school
Carmel arrived at the College after a hospital nursing career in Nottingham, London and Bermuda. She had re- cently been awarded the ‘Nurse of the Year Award’ by the Bermuda Nurse Association and the President of Bermu- da. She has lived up to the accolade entirely. A respected, passionate and hardworking practitioner, Carmel champions the pupils and their wellbeing. They – the pupils – are at the heart of all she does. She has shown sensitivity, ingenuity and authority throughout her time managing the Medical Centre, perhaps no more so than when guiding us through the Covid pandemic. She led on testing protocols, isolation, and quarantine, and even, at one point, oversaw the temporary erection of a boarders’ Covid isolation ward in the Pavilion Salle, named in her honour. The pandemic was a turbulent and unsettling time, but we were all the better for Carmel rallying her team and ensuring that the community were well informed and carefully looked after. She showed remarkable personal resilience throughout this challenging period, spending much of the pandemic based in London, while her family members were in Bermuda. Carmel’s family were the reason for her relocating to London. She is a fiercely proud Mum of Kenza OA, Kayah, and Kennedy OA, all of whom have now flown the nest and are successfully pursuing the next stages of their lives - hence Carmel’s long-awaited return to Bermuda, to join her husband, Glen. Her children and our children have been her world for the last 10 years and she has success-
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