Sennockian 2018-2019 | Page 153

Above: Andy Burton (right) Right: Graeme Lawrie. Graeme Lawrie Graeme Lawrie started at Sevenoaks School as Head of Design and Technology in 2006. Within a few years he took on the role of Head of the Science Faculty, before moving on to be the Director of Innovation and Excellence in 2014, becoming the Director of Innovation and Outreach in 2016. and technology, enhanced by inspirational speakers, activities and shows. Since then, thousands of local children have visited the event each year. There were awe-inspiring sensational events, including the live link with the International Space Station (2011), air displays above Sevenoaks (2012), the Bloodhound supersonic car (2013), and a Russian cosmonaut’s inspirational talk on plans for the manned mission to Mars. Over the last 13 years, Graeme has been a tutor for many of the boarding houses, a Middle School day tutor, climbing instructor, and timetabler, but is probably best known for his work with innovative technologies and the community. He ran a successful Science Week for almost ten years and built a hugely successful partnership collaboration with local schools in and around Sevenoaks, as well as an international consultancy for innovation in education. The success of these events did not go unnoticed and Graeme became a popular speaker at conferences across the globe, sharing his vision for collaborative education work. He became NASA’s Teaching in Space Liaison in 2012, secured a secondment at Buckingham Palace as Special Adviser to HRH the Duke of York and assisted in designing and launching a digital skills platform (www.idea.org.uk), which now has over 800,000 users. Graeme was awarded Pearson Teacher of the year in 2012 and was nominated as one of the top five science teachers in the UK by the TES in 2015. In 2010 Graeme opened our facilities to 1500 local children in the form of a STEM Week, to join Sevenoaks students in the exploration of science Graeme has left Sevenoaks School to take on a role as Director of Partnerships for ACS International Schools from January 2019. I know he will be greatly missed. Becky Brown SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2018-2019 147