Brentwoodian 2019

113 Miss Lovelock was a fantastic colleague to have in the Computing Science department. She was knowledgeable, hardworking and above all trustworthy. So much so, that in her seven years at Brentwood, she was always being coaxed over to help other departments deliver their curriculum! She ran the Badminton club, taught Design Technology, delivered the Human Universe course and many of the Wellbeing sessions. She was Assistant Head of East House and in my 12 years as Housemaster there has yet to be better. The students would testify to that. She was amazing at raising awareness for charities and supporting our students in their efforts to do the same - take the knitting club for example. She will be sorely missed, by me and by many. Iona Lovelock For twenty years, Mr Pritchard served the School as a consummate schoolmaster, yet his own route to Brentwood had not been the conventional one. Very much a rebel and wag at school, he left there to work variously both in the UK and abroad, cultivating the empathy and people skills so essential for teaching. He was peerless in his ability to get through to recalcitrant boys whom he persuaded to eschew the sports field for long enough to get to grips with French irregular verbs. This he did through his lucid explanations and a sense of humour that held a class without the need for technological pyrotechnics. Tales of Wilfy, who graced his disarming but very cleverly constructed worksheets, and his inscrutable irony became the stuff of legend. His take-up and results were always amongst the very best in the MFL Department, despite teaching predominately boys who are often reluctant linguists, and many bottom sets to boot. He saw and understood pupils in the round by his multifarious co-curricular involvement. An accomplished sportsman, he re-established rugby in the School on his arrival, ran football and cricket teams for years and wielded a mean squash racquet. He was involved in more than 40 foreign residential trips, running the vast majority of these. Rhodri Pritchard Most notable were the Spanish Exchange and Lille Homestay which he set up and which allowed our pupils to appreciate environments which were not as materially advantaged as their own. Mr Pritchard’s own personal magnetism helped foster the rapport with our partner schools which made these links so strong. Yet his greatest strength was arguably in the pastoral sphere, where he was East Housemaster and then Head of Fourth and Fifth Year for six years. His highly developed emotional intelligence, decency and strong belief in standards were a formidable amalgam. Sensitive to the acutely negative effect wounded dignity could have, when he did need to rebuke pupils, it was done with a respect which was reciprocated. He was never indulgent, but consistent and just and this caused him to be held in the highest regard by pupils, parents and Form Tutors alike. His charges shone academically and from him learnt values which they could take proudly into the world because, most of all, despite a tough, Welsh, rugby-playing exterior, he genuinely cared. Mr Pritchard has now moved on to St. John’s, Billericay, and we wish him every happiness there. Mr Essuman joined us in 2018 and quickly impressed the Maths department with his kind and generous nature. He got on well with his students in and out of lessons. He quickly got involved in the rugby at the school and coached a team. Mr Essuman was attracted back to his old school by offers of a promotion and we wish him well in his new position as Head of KS3. Eric Essuman