a very warm heart underneath ’ – that warm heart has really shone this year , and I think we can all agree that T has blossomed .
The year started beautifully , with all of us noticing how involved she was , how she greeted students as they arrived in the morning , how she took the time to catch up with the extended members of the school community – the Matrons , for example – how she popped in to lessons , how she continued to do lunch duty ! She managed this terrifically cheerfully , while continuing with the role of Chair of Governors at Knole Academy and also with being a trustee of the Almshouses . She was enjoying herself , and we knew we were in good hands . The qualities which would be so crucial later in the year were becoming evident – her regular , clear communications , her honest and direct approach , and her thoughtfulness . With T , what you see is what you get – she is a no nonsense kind of a person and enormously inclusive of every member of the community .
Her style of email responses are , as colleagues know , short in the extreme . Here are a few I have received in response to my , I have to say , more lengthy emails :
Yup Pl wait . Pl s m frst but obv will follow ur adv . Prob .
[ Please see me first but obviously will follow your advice . Probably .]
They always raise a smile when I receive them . As it turned out , this ability to respond quickly turned out to be an extremely useful skill . As the months passed it became clear that this has been quite the most challenging year to run a school within living memory – if not ever . March brought the pandemic , and the huge challenges involved in closing the school ( decisions about snow days pale into insignificance , as T said at the time ), switching to distance learning , dealing with numerous parental enquiries , worrying about financial issues and drawing up a range of contingency plans for next year .
T , right from the start , led from the front by working very hard indeed . The whole community – academic
and support staff , students and their families , prospective families , joining families , governors and trustees – all appreciated being included in her regular updates which were delivered clearly but with a sense of humour , and often with a thoughtful poem or homily at the end of the communication . As she commented , ‘ We know what we know , we don ’ t know what we don ’ t know , but whatever we do , we know that someone won ’ t like it !’ T has worn the responsibility lightly and is still going strong , and will of course still be here next year to ensure a smooth handover to Jesse , our new Headmaster .
The Summer term hasn ’ t been all bad for T , though . She has got to grips with her Surface Pro ( I think ) and has become a proficient YouTuber . The lack of a lengthy commute meant she could have a lie in until 6:00am rather than the usual 5:30am . She was able to protect her cherry tree from the birds by sitting under it while on virtual Teams meetings . She could check that her rabbits socially distanced in the garden and , more importantly , didn ’ t eat her plants .
T has said , with characteristic understatement , ‘ This is not the year I expected to run .’ No indeed ! But we have all been so grateful to her for navigating us through an impossible situation so successfully .
Arabella Stuart
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2019-2020 7