VALETE
Kevin has played a significant role in the Modern Languages Department away from the classroom. Amongst his many achievements, he was an NQT mentor and has been strongly committed to our supra-curricular programme, playing a pivotal part in Dulwich Linguistic, and most recently leading Dulwich’s entry for the UK Linguistics Olympiad. Further afield, he has also run and accompanied countless successful trips, the excellent Year 9 La Rochelle homestay trip and the Year 8 market trip to Aachen among them. His organisation, attention to detail and forward-planning led to excellent, safe and highly enjoyable trips. A highly motivated professional who thrives on new challenges, he completed an M.Ed while teaching a full timetable and authored a thought- provoking article in the FT Weekend , ‘A techno-boon for the chalk phobic’, on the use of interactive whiteboards. M ike arrived at Dulwich to a department in transit. Already a successful academic and pastoral leader with a wealth of experience from Graveney School, he gave us confidence that we had found the colleague who could continue the department’s journey, developing creative practice with a close eye on standards. Mike did not disappoint: the number of boys opting to continue to study Design at GCSE, A-Level and beyond grew under his leadership, as did examination success, and both continue to flourish today. Mike has always worked hard to create a team of colleagues who respect each other, are listened to and
He is also a talented musician. As Drake Housemaster in the Lower School, he completely transformed the choir and produced some legendary performances of his own at the Leavers’ Revues over the years – who could ever forget his superb rendition of Neunundneunzig Luftballons ? In addition to his excellent work in the Modern Languages Department, Kevin has played a major role in the Lower School. Iain Scarisbrick’s first appointment, he was outstanding in the way he ran his various year groups, working incredibly hard to get to know all those in his care as quickly as possible and always ensuring that boys were making the most of their time in the Lower School. He embodied the College’s holistic approach to education: boys were encouraged to give their best in their work, to become involved in co-curricular activities and make lasting friendships within their cohort. Mike Ross *ª»¶}ٶ£¯ empowered to develop new ideas to take the department forwards and improve the experience for the boys. Indeed, the boys themselves have been very much at the heart of Mike’s decision- making. Their appetite for electronics, an aspect of Design and Technology that had not been offered at the College for some time, saw Mike set up the new Electronics GCSE, which became an area of outstanding academic success. The area that he most enjoyed working in, it is perhaps here that his skills and passion will be most missed. Mike has been a Scout Leader of Troop 1 for the past five years. He has brought to that role his practical and organisational expertise and has been
In addition, he co-ordinated the Year 12 mentors, ran assemblies on topics ranging from Bill Bryson’s books to Grimms’ fairy tales, and started the Year 8 trips to Thorpe Park as a way of celebrating the end of their time in the Lower School with their Form Tutors. Kevin embodies the spirit of lifelong learning and his promotion to Head of German at King Edward VI School, Southampton, represents his desire now to push his boundaries within an academic context. He will be an excellent department head and his experience in both the pastoral and academic spheres at Dulwich will be invaluable. We wish him all best in the next exciting stage of his career: I am sure he will make as much of an impact and success there as he has done at Dulwich. He has been a great colleague and we will all miss him. at the heart of the regular meetings and the many away weekends. The boys have learned a great deal from Mike and his enthusiasm and commitment have been much appreciated. We are hoping that Mike will continue his association with 25th Camberwell Scout Group after his departure. In his final year at Dulwich, Mike has been working on authoring a text book to accompany the new Design and Technology GCSE. This must have been an exercise he enjoyed, as he now takes up a job in publishing. Happily, Mike’s subject knowledge will live on in the textbook we will be teaching from for many years to come – a fantastic legacy to leave us.
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