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everything he does: his dedication and Stakhanovite work rate are also legendary. But in addition to putting his colleagues to shame, Rory’s diligence has seen countless pupils benefit from his time outside class and comprehensive feedback; his desire to see them get it right and do well is unparalleled. In addition to tackling a PGCE with outstanding results, Rory quickly became involved with many different activities across the College. He established himself as an excellent tutor, first in the Middle and then the Upper School, while also coaching Years 9 and 10 in rowing, taking a Year 9 group to a National Silver Medal in 2014. In the classroom he gravitated towards older texts for A level, with Chaucer, Pope and Swift being particular favourites. But he is equally at home with the contemporary: when the department began teaching the Gothic with The Bloody Chamber a set text, Rory responded by turning himself into an expert on Angela Carter. The reliably difficult Thomas Pynchon was his go- to postmodern writer for stretching university applicants. What would become a hallmark passion for spreadsheets took off when Rory became Assistant to the Head of Liberal Studies. Hours spent finessing formulae for placing students in their various classes of choice bore most fruit when a joint programme with JAGS was introduced for Year 12. Further promotion followed in 2015, when Rory was appointed to be second in the English Department and took on the organisation of the newly established A level plus programme. At the same time, he was given responsibility for introducing the EPQ to the College, working up systems and teaching elements from scratch. Both the EPQ and A level plus courses have been highly successful,
with Rory putting tremendous effort into making life as simple as possible for others, usually by making his own more difficult.
work Annika has increasingly challenged the divides between fine and applied arts. Her installation work transforms space whilst also nodding at re-defining our idea of interiors. We are invited to live in, and with, the artworks; their everyday stories and objects are familiar and trigger nostalgia. Audiences can connect with and quickly become absorbed into the narratives. The same can be said of Annika’s lessons: pupils lose themselves in her carefully crafted and always cutting- edge projects. Annika brings joy to learning through her joy in life and people; she makes the everyday exciting, capturing the imaginations and curiosity of her young charges. Simply put, her pupils love her lessons, and adore and respect Annika. Annika is often behind the scenes making things happen. Her work with Conrad Shawcross on the conception and development of ‘Exploding Paradigm’ was not insignificant. Annika was there each step of the way, taking, as always, a pupil-centred approach, with an astute eye trained on making sure their ideas were heard and seen. The identity of Shawcross’s work fitted with our collective vision for the Laboratory. Annika is an exceptionally organised and hard-working practitioner; she makes the plate-spinning of running a creative business alongside teaching appear seamless. Annika draws on both worlds, bringing them together. As she often says: ‘I learn as much, if not more from the students I teach as they learn from me.’ Teaching helps keep subject knowledge alive, and Annika is both a reflective and continual learner. Central to Annika’s practice are her integrity and the flexibility of how she works. Annika has evolved her practice, never selling out and always keeping a strict check on the purpose of her pathway. She has developed a brand whilst also staying
THROUGH HER WORK ANNIKA HAS INCREASINGLY CHALLENGED THE DIVIDES BETWEEN FINE AND APPLIED ARTS
As Deputy Head of Department, Rory’s contribution to English has been immense. Challenging and engaging Further English sessions have been run, often at terrifying hours of the morning; mock exam papers have been produced seemingly effortlessly; the curriculum for Years 7 and 8 has been skilfully refreshed; annual reviews and lesson observations have been carefully conducted; and exam data has been fastidiously collated and analysed – all with persistent good cheer and unending generosity. Equally, colleagues have been grateful for his having found time to listen when they have had difficulties, or for his willingness to pick up work to help them out, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude for the steadying influence he has exerted during the challenges of lockdown. Rory is leaving Dulwich to become Head of English at City of London School for Boys, where his new department will benefit enormously from his immense skill and humane leadership – not to mention his fantastic teaching resources. The school’s location will shave a few minutes off his punishing decade-long commute from Twickenham (typically, the train ride was seen as a further work opportunity, with many a report tapped into a mobile phone en route). We will miss him for many reasons: the impeccable dress sense; the razor-sharp wit and astonishing facility for puns; the ability to knock out exemplar speech openings with enviable ease. Most of all, we will miss that complete devotion to doing things well, and we wish him the very best in continuing to do them well as he moves beyond Dulwich.
firmly rooted in fine art foundations. The same can be said of her teaching: Annika has exceptionally high standards and expectations of her pupils, and her lessons incorporate a sense of challenge, while keeping a finger on the pulse of what is happening in the world around us. They are fun, and often touch on Annika’s trademark of normalising the ‘absurd’. Annika is at the next staging-post of her artistic and creative journey. We have no doubt that she will further push and challenge the boundaries. Her understanding of space and of how surroundings impact on people and vice versa is driving her desire to revisit installation as well as exterior public works. Whilst Annika normalises the ‘absurd’ she also makes it accessible and personal for her audience; she can make a space feel personal, inviting and nostalgic.
ANNIKA LASCELLES
One might say that Matt joined our Geography Department in September 2015 from Abingdon College on the crest of a wave that he has surfed ever since. There can be few whose sporting activities are as extreme as those enjoyed by Matt. For most of us, surfing is an activity attempted on gently sloping beaches in the warmth of summer, with the ability to remain upright on barely breaking waves for a few seconds considered a success. Matt takes the sport to another level, with a 7mm neoprene wetsuit, full-face balaclava, gloves and boots – essential kit for surfing the dramatically breaking waves off the coasts of Iceland, Greenland and the Norwegian Lofoten Islands in mid-winter. There can’t be many surfers who use Google Earth to seek out the perfect location for waves and choose the Arctic Circle over the Cornish Riviera or the warmer waters off the coast of West Africa!
Sue Mulholland
Jo Woolley MATTHEW POYNTER
In her nine years at the College, Annika has evolved as a teacher and an artist, and she is now becoming a well-known ‘brand’ in the world of interiors, merging fine art with the art of craft in the spirit of a modern-day William Morris, with exquisite ranges of limited-edition wood block-printed fabrics and wallpaper. As a department we have always valued what practising artists bring to the classroom; every day this offers professional development to both the teaching team and the students, keeping us all in touch with the ‘live’ art and design world.
I first met Annika at the end of her MA and have since witnessed the extraordinary development of her practice. Whilst all her work is wrought through with a strong thread of personal identity – a delicious combination of fun, sometimes a little sinister and always absurd – it was her animation and installation work in particular, which challenges the perceptions and boundaries of print, that felt ahead of its time. Her residencies in Jaipur (India) and China equipped her with an arsenal of skills, her mastery of her media resulting in artworks at once conceptually sound, visually exciting, and very well-made. Through her
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