William Ellis School salutes its classroom veterans

THEY have clocked up about 200 years of public service, teaching and working at one of Camden’s best-regarded schools. No surprises then that former colleagues, governors and pupils at William Ellis School in Highgate flocked to say thank you and goodbye to four long-serving teachers and other departing staff on Monday.

Head of sixth form Malcolm Rose joined William Ellis when it was still a grammar school in 1973 and has never worked anywhere else in his four-decade-long teaching career

The party also said goodbye to three others who have served for 35 years and are retiring: popular PE teacher Andy Fox, David Manthorpe and Ian Groves. 

Other staff leaving included Ellen Amaah, who fed thousands of children in her time at the school as head of kitchens, and Pam Seebrooke, in the administration department. 

Mr Rose joined the Highgate Road school after gaining a postgraduate teaching certificate at the Institute of Education.

The son of a steelworker who grew up in the South Wales town of Newport, he was given his first teaching post by headteacher Sidney Baxter, who wore a mortar board and gown and ran the school along traditional lines. The school turned into a comprehensive in 1979.

Mr Rose, a rugby enthusiast, will be remembered by many ex-pupils for his dedication in running sports teams and putting an emphasis on extra-curricular activities. 

In his leaving speech, he recalled taking pupils on trips abroad and to a former army camp in the Welsh hills.

Mr Rose added that one of the major issues in the 1980s during the showdowns between the teaching professions and the Thatcher government was the withdrawal of out-of-hours activities, which he believes eroded relationships between teachers and pupils. 

“I believe in the idea that your education takes place all around you and not just in the classroom,” he said.

“When children see you out of the classroom, they see a real side of teachers, a human side. When you take pupils for rugby matches on Saturdays or on school journeys, it is suddenly much easier to teach them in the classroom.”

Published: 21st July, 2011
by DAN CARRIER