THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
VALETE
VALETE
NELA BROCKINGTON
YVONNE WINDSOR
TIM COOK
Ashley England
Lexi Kelly
Y vonne joined us this year from Gordonstoun, where she was Head of Physics. Right from the off she jumped straight into responsibilities within the Physics Department, playing an important role in the development and delivery of our extension provision, working with Dario on Further Physics. Her help in this area was invaluable. In the first term she conducted a considerable number of mock interviews with Oxbridge candidates, offering them precious advice on how to perform at their best in their actual interviews. In addition, once Further Physics relaunched for the Year 12 cohort, she helped ensure that the large numbers of boys in the session were coping with the challenging content. Also finding time to take part in Community Action and to be a visiting tutor in Blew House, Yvonne adapted to life at Dulwich very quickly, and did not miss a beat with her classes. At the heart of every single one of her lessons was immense care for her students, as well as passion for the subject. Within the department she was a tremendous team player, volunteering to make and share resources, delivering revision sessions, and looking out for colleagues when they needed her help. Yvonne leaves us to join the Physics Department at St Paul’s, who are incredibly lucky to have her. We are sorry to see her go, but wish her the best of luck!
N ela joined Dulwich College and the Mathematics Department in September 2018 as a newly qualified teacher. Her background in medicine and specifically neuroscience meant she was ready for the best that Dulwich’s minds could throw at her. Nela has really thrived in her time at Dulwich, teaching her classes with care and dedication, stretching the brightest and supporting all her pupils equally. She has made significant contributions in the co-curricular area, leading the programming club as well as helping run Middle School Mathematics enrichment. She is never without a copy of Horse and Hound on her desk in the Maths office, and her love of riding meant that she was the perfect person to run the Community Action project at the local stables. Nela will be massively missed by the Maths Department. She is someone who thinks incredibly hard about teaching as a craft and as a profession, and she is always determined to innovate, while focusing on what is most important for her students. We will miss her knowledge on a wide variety of matters: she has greatly enriched the time both staff and pupils have spent with her. We wish her the very best as she moves to City of London School for Girls, and we hope the commute is as short as the one to Dulwich was long.
Nathalie Whittington
H ‘
i, Mr Cook.’ We walk a few more steps. ‘Mr Cook!’ accompanied by an enthusiastic wave. We manage to get a little bit further on. ‘Hello … Mr Cook, hi.’ This is what happens on your average walk from the North Block English classrooms to the Christison Hall for lunch when you are with Tim. A chorus of pupils’ voices wanting to acknowledge and greet their teacher and say hello. Sharing a walk with Tim highlights what he represents as a teacher: someone who has connected with, inspired, and earned the trust, respect and loyalty of the pupils. Since joining the English Department, Tim has endeared himself to both colleagues and pupils. His commitment to sharing and passing on his own love of literature has been evident in the ways that he invites the pupils to explore the subject. In addition to his classes from Years 7 to 13, he has inspired the Lower School WordSmiths writers’ creativity through his warmth, support and skilful insights;
he has reviewed the department’s Year 9 reading schemes, recognising the importance of reading as part of a range of interests, and encouraging pupils to explore an era’s literature, art, music and culture; and he has empowered the Upper School pupils to recognise that they are our writers of the future, offering them his guidance and belief in their creative writing through the Liberal Studies course. As a colleague there is so much that will be missed about Tim. His integrity, loyalty, honesty and resilience. His wit – and accompanying smile. His sophisticated, luxurious cologne (the perfect antidote to the more dominant cologne of ‘boy smell’ that fills the corridors). His suggestions for morning pick-me-up songs that range from piano concertos to soul anthems. So, inspired by one of these songs and in the words of Jocelyn Brown, we take this moment to thank Tim and wish him all the very best – ‘this’ll be the moment, it’ll be the moment of your life’.
196
197
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker