Nathalie Whittington by Richard Sutton
Diversity & Inclusion roadmap with Malcolm Cocks, a fellow member of English, and form the Alliance. Nathalie would establish Dulwich College Identity Awareness Month (DCIAM), an annual month’s celebration of inclusiveness, and herself led Black History Month at the College for three years; with Malcolm, she would write the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policies and training which now underpin so much of College life, and design the African-Caribbean Society tie. For a time, the ‘EDI’ Office Nathalie shared with Sue Mulholland, complete with fig tree and clothes closet, was the most popular on site: a haven for staff seeking good company and a cup of herbal tea. A new challenge came in her final role at the College in 2023 when she was appointed coordinator for the Southwark Schools’ Learning Partnership. Dr Cameron Pyke writes: Nathalie wears her learning lightly, but her interactions with pupils are informed by a mutual respect and a commitment to achieve evolutionary change collaboratively. These attributes have informed the empathy and understanding she has devoted to the College’s partnerships work. Nathalie’s kindness, positivity and professionalism have been particular gifts; her interactions with all people, whatever their role, are unfailingly generous. Her approach to humanity is informed by a real understanding of the value of difference and yet of fundamental connection. “Only connect”. We wish Nathalie, Sam, Nia and Siena the happiest future and success in their new endeavours. ◎
In her memorable teaching over the years, Nathalie has used imagination to find those routes which would illuminate rather than obfuscate, engage not merely instruct. Bringing different cultures into the mainstream by celebrating a dynamic canon of alternative voices, Nathalie would typically pair the blues-inflected lyric poems of Langston Hughes with Conor McPherson’s Girl from the North Country , a Depression-era “play with music” set in a Minnesota guesthouse. With characteristic self-effacement, Nathalie’s MA personal literary interests led to her presenting several high-profile department initiatives: on the language of the Harlem Renaissance; or on the richness and multiplicity of African-American life. She went on to revolutionise Upper School House Poetry: much of the success of the re- fashioned competition was the result of her own wonderfully erudite role within it. The beauty of the natural world inspired Nathalie to run the department’s popular Year 7 expedition to Box Hill for a number of years: a cross- curricular outing combining writing, geography and art. At the culmination of the day’s adventures, Nathalie would gather all the boys on the exposed summit for a literary meditation under the spell of her compelling invocation: “We just need to sit with it.” Little did Nathalie know, but this poised moment of managed reflection was a prolepsis of her future College role as Head of Wellbeing. The Box Hill work eventually saw the publication of Little Brown Box , a compilation of short writings and sketches co-edited by Nathalie. From 2017-23, Nathalie divided her work between English and Wellbeing eventually assuming the leadership of the latter when Sarah Griffiths ceded the role. From the outset, Nathalie approached the Wellbeing curriculum with individuality, writing attractive plans which embraced the positives of a balanced life, and establishing the staff Wellbeing programme; further initiatives included the Year 11 Mental Health Awareness Day, Wellbeing lessons in the Upper School, the electronic newsletter ‘Something For…’ which helped many through the pandemic, and the creation of two Deputy Head roles in the team. A natural progression from this saw Nathalie co-author the
In Harvest Song , a poem exploring the disillusionment of an exhausted farmer from one of Nathalie’s favourite books, Cane (1923) by the Harlem Renaissance author Jean Toomer, the poet-persona reflects: It would be good to hear their songs... reapers of the sweet-stalk'd cane, cutters of the corn… even though their throats cracked and the strangeness of their voices deafened me. Inspired by Toomer’s own subtle, multilayered narratives, Nathalie too has brought songs to her work and has made us hear. She has brought the reapers and the cutters, and has encouraged us to sense the strange beauty of cracked throats. In her 23 years as an English teacher, one of Nathalie’s great gifts has been to cherish and celebrate the voices at the margins, interpreted through her own quiet authority and captivating lucidity. Prior to Dulwich, Nathalie began her career at Chestnut Grove Academy, a state school in Balham and a cherished place for Nathalie to learn her teaching craft. There followed several years as Deputy Head of Sixth Form at Jerudong International School, Brunei, however, the lure of London eventually called her back. When she joined the English Department in 2013, it was a period of turbulence in the staffing with four other colleagues arriving simultaneously. With a desk in the old L-shaped office near the copier, Nathalie was initially employed as maternity cover for Beatrice Riddiford, inheriting the A Level teaching of an Iris Murdoch novel (which no one but Beatrice had read) alongside more straightforward fare of creative writing and the poetry of John Donne and Dannie Abse. On one magical summer’s evening, Nathalie accompanied several department colleagues to Dulwich Books for an Abse poetry reading, one of the Welshman’s last public engagements, and realised she had joined a team for whom literature was important.
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