SE CHRONICLE 684

6 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Huw Thomas What do you do at Teddies and how long have you been here? I took over as Housemaster in Apsley at the start of term. I have been at Teddies for seven years and have loved my whole time at the School. No two years have been the same and I have enjoyed the variety of opportunities in which I have been involved. What did you do before? I have been very fortunate to have experienced different areas of school life. When I first joined Teddies in 2015 I was a teacher of History and Resident Tutor in Apsley. I then moved to Tilly’s, where I was Assistant Housemaster for five years before moving to Cooper Lodge to be a Tutor for one year. During my time in Tilly’s, I also became Assistant Head of Sixth Form and was responsible for managing the universities programme. Until the end of last year I had also been Head of History for two years, which brought me an enormous amount of joy to witness the love for the subject shown by great colleagues and wonderful pupils. I was also 1st XV rugby coach for four years, which was an incredible privilege and I will never forget the electrifying last-minute 21-15 victory over the Oratory School in 2019. It has been a very busy seven years, but I am grateful for all the different roles I have occupied. I am excited to now be back in Apsley where it all began (but don’t tell the boys in Tilly’s that I said that!). What are you most looking forward to about becoming a Housemaster? Getting to know every pupil in Apsley. I want to share and celebrate everyone’s personal interests, ambitions and achievements, so this is something that I am very excited about. What do you see as the benefits of co-educational Houses? We live in a society in which tolerance, acceptance and equality are perhaps more important than they have ever been. Living in a co-educational House gives pupils the chance to become more tolerant and inclusive people, ready to step into and thrive within the ‘real world’ of mixed personalities beyond the walls of school. What are your ambitions for the pupils in Apsley? I have three ambitions for the pupils in Apsley. My immediate priority is to establish the full integration of girls in the Sixth Form now that the girls and boys are all living under one roof. My second ambition is to improve the academic endeavour and outcomes of all pupils in the House. My third ambition is to cultivate pupils’ pride in the House’s identity as one with a robust culture and a cohesive community in which every pupil feels a sense of belonging.

Name some highlights from your Teddies career so far. There is one highlight of my career that stands apart from all others, and that was meeting my now wife, Beckie. She and I met at Teddies in 2017 and we got married in July. She has been an incredible inspiration to me and a constant support in everything that I have done. Without her, many of the other highlights of my career would probably not have happened. Best advice you’ve ever been given? I am an admirer of Marcus Aurelius’s writings on Stoicism in his Meditations . Life often throws at us seemingly insurmountable challenges, but these words from Marcus Aurelius have often given me the reassurance to be able to endure tough times: ‘Be like the rocky headland on which the waves constantly break. It stands firm, and round it the seething waters are laid to rest.’ Which book would you take to a desert island and why? The Mabinogion which was a series of tales written in Welsh during the 12th – 13th centuries based on ancient oral traditions. They are brilliant, imaginative stories that would connect me to my Welsh roots whilst being marooned on a desert island.