VALETE
Alex Burrows ٶ¶Iݶ
A lthough at Dulwich for only a year, Alex has certainly had a significant impact on the Learning Support Department. As Head, she met all challenges with enthusiasm and energy and, from the start of her tenure, she stamped her unique leadership style upon the department. Her easy-going manner and personable nature resulted in a strong team spirit that Alex ensured
was focused on providing the very best support for the boys. She was also aware of the practical issues and ensured that the department’s technology needs were addressed. A charismatic and innovative teacher, Alex championed the cause of the pupils under her charge, being particularly inspirational to those more disaffected boys seen by the department. Her unflappable,
professional and empathic style meant that she established an excellent and supportive rapport with parents. Despite Alex’s dedication to the job and the school, the lengthy and difficult commute that she faced daily finally convinced her that she needed to step down. Her quirky style and lively sense of humour will be missed.
Mark Schunemann 2ÓËЪ¶n¨ªÐ
M ark has served the College as the Chaplaincy Assistant since September 2016. With his boundless enthusiasm and fizzing intellectual curiosity, you’re left in no doubt that you’ve had an encounter with Mark. A meeting over the lunch table will be accompanied by an animated and eclectic debate and, more often than not, a shower of rice and beans. His sartorial proclivity towards matching checks with paisley, and an aversion to irons, also left an impression. A real passion to get to know people, and a genuine interest in hearing what they think, has made Mark’s ministry a vital and engaging one, not just within the chaplaincy, but in many other aspects of the school’s
life. In addition to his invaluable assistance to the Chaplain, he has overseen the Lower and Upper School Christian Unions – encouraging and challenging the boys’ faith in equal measure. His provocatively billed discussions have drawn a wide audience from all faiths and none. It was his initiative to invite, over the course of the year, an Islamic scholar, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor to come and address groups and assemblies. It was Mark who resurrected the Interfaith Football Competition, an event that elicited great enthusiasm from the student body. That the Zoroastrians won still confounds him, especially since they number only two in the whole College. His commitments took Mark off on
school trips, including excursions to the Design Museum and the Hindu Temple at Neasdon. His final triumph was the convening of a seminar on the relationship between theology and music. A voracious reader of theology, philosophy and fiction, Mark brought all this to bear in his talks and lessons. The boys with whom he engaged pastorally valued his wise and sensitive ear and his great sense of fun. In short, he has been a good and faithful servant of the College, the chaplaincy and the Christian Gospel. We wish him all the very best as he moves on to Durham University to pursue his burgeoning academic interests in Theology.
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