VALETE
Hayley Cross ٶ£¯}}ÇÐÝǪ£¨Ð equally from a caring and supportive manner. These qualities truly make her an exceptional teacher. Her deeply felt passion for learning in all its guises is evident from the array of activities she became involved with during her time at Dulwich College. These included co-running New Views, the National Theatre’s playwriting scheme; establishing a Cooking Society and running a very popular Liberal Studies option, Cooking for University; and also running a Year 11 Fitness Club (which saw a record number of boys swap out of it when they realised that with Hayley in charge, exercise was now actually required). With an eye to helping develop the skills and confidence of future colleagues, she mentored PGCE students and also organised a number of charitable events, including a very profitable Donal O’Hara ¨ÇªËIÐÐݪ¯¯
H ayley leaves us after having how much of an impact she has made that we feel she must surely have been with us for longer. In her own quietly compelling way, Hayley has reminded our department how fundamentally important it is to be both clear and imaginative in our teaching methods. Her classroom practice has always been innovative, demanding and exciting, her schemes of work characterised by creativity and a desire to foster intellectual flair among her charges. She has inspired in the boys she has worked with a love of words and an understanding of their power spent four years in the English department. It is testament to to move and provoke both thought and action. Above all, the boys she has taught have benefited not only from her intellectual rigour but H aving worked for the previous three years as a Mathematics tutor, both privately and with colleges, a move into teaching was the obvious next step for Donal in 2015. His love of his subject was evident from the start: he clearly enjoyed the challenges of teaching across the age range at the College and thinking about how best to put key concepts across to students. His distinctive Belfast accent was slightly harder for some boys to place, with some less worldly students initially asking whether he was Australian or South African.
Christmas event, which raised money for Brixton Soup Kitchen. Hayley is indeed a talented all-rounder and, ever in need of a challenge herself, she has, for some time now (much like a number of the more memorable characters in some of her best-loved fiction) led a double life, putting schoolboys through their academic paces by day and adults through perhaps even more exacting routines on the gym floor in the early evenings. Understandably, this has taken its toll: the time came for Hayley to choose and for the foreseeable future, she is parting company with teaching in order to focus on her gym classes and also to write children’s fiction. It has been a real pleasure to work with Hayley. She will be sorely missed by students and colleagues alike, yet we are sure this won’t be the last we see of her.
His interest in the classroom and teaching led to him studying for a PGCSE through Buckingham University in his second year. This included residential weekends away learning education theory as well as time spent at a nearby school to widen his school experience. Donal approached all aspects of the course with professionalism and a willingness to try out new ideas from his mentor, James Rosslyn-Smith. A keen sportsman, he offered his services to football in particular, where he has taken the U14 Ds for the
two years that he has been here. He is also a keen cook, contributing dishes to the department cook-offs. These dishes, as well as his good humour, friendly manner and enthusiasm for his subject, will be missed by all of those in the department. Donal leaves us to take up a teaching post at Latymer Upper School. We hope that he will keep in touch and we all wish him the very best for his future career.
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