School and upon which Iain Scarisbrick was able to build when he succeeded John in January 2007. It was at this stage that John drew together his two central themes of the pastoral and academic: he was appointed as Head of Learning Assessment, a new post and again very foundational in many ways. This began the creation of the support team developed by Alasdair Kennedy, with his strong focus upon Teaching and Learning. There are two major developments that arose from John’s early days in this role: the monitored work sessions and the support for NQTs. In the case of the former, this meant carefully tailored after-school work sessions for boys who were struggling in particular subjects, with reasons as varied as there are individual boys. The latter eventually led to the College being recognised as a centre for NQTs with courses being organised for NQTs throughout South London. Those summing up John would say he is a real gentleman; kind and considerate; always wanting to help and support but never wanting to forget for a moment that schools are all about teaching and learning – and that means students and teachers. I believe that John has left a great heritage to the College from 30 years’ service and can be proud of that as the College has had the wisdom to build upon many of his ideas and early development. RALPH MAINARD
VALETE
John Devlin John came to Dulwich in September 1983 to teach Spanish and French. Prior to his arrival, he had been teaching French and Spanish in Newcastle upon Tyne. Typically he immediately threw himself into a variety of College events alongside his teaching. These came to include being in charge of Jewish worship, a member of the Open Morning Committee and a member of the Crèche and Nursery Committee. It was this latter committee which eventually led to the creation of DUCKS. At the time of John’s appointment Tony Evans was Head of Modern Languages. John was soon recognised for his excellent relationship with the boys through his high-quality teaching and his leadership as a Form Tutor. This recognition led to his appointment as Fifth Form Tutor. With today’s nomenclature that would read as Head of Year 11 – as ever, a job with many challenges. Initially however, the College turned to utilising John’s linguistic skills and in September 1991 he became the Head of Modern Languages. This was a reshaped position in that previous incumbents had been a Head of a language, French or Spanish. In John’s case, he was to lead and merge the separate Heads of Language. It was during this time that a real working together between the languages was established and commonalities were explored and developed. From this work John then returned to a more pastoral focus when he was appointed Head of the Lower School in September 1998. At the same time, the College decided to create a separate Junior School, creating the fourth of the Dulwich Schools. Prior to this, the Junior Forms at the College had been a department. John began the creation of his foundations for what we now recognise as the Lower
Helen Johnson Helen Johnson joined the College in September 1987. Before that, she had taught for four years at Wanstead High School, six years at the British School of Brussels and finally five years in Singapore. She clearly had fond memories of the latter two posts in particular, often encouraging other staff to make use of overseas exchanges at the College (or simply to leave the UK system while they still could). Maggie Jarman remembers Helen when she first joined as one of the ‘early feminists’ at the College, at a time when there were male members of staff who could still recall when the
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