St Edward's Rhubarb Issue 5

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

9

Shadowing a Shell

Mike Palau (B, 1959-1964), Vice-President of the Society shadows a Shell, Mike Denvir (B).

In preparation for taking on my new role as President of the Society, I went back to School to shadow Shell, Mike Denvir (B). Mike was an excellent guide, taking me to his Friday morning lessons of Drama, Geography, Classics and Maths. The Drama class with Miss Mackrell started with a warm up exercise which took me back to my time at Drama School and their movement classes. We then started producing a scene, with the boys planning the script, and the girls planning the musical accompaniment. Geography with Mr Nagle was a helter- skelter trip through tropical rainforest vegetation in which I learned rather more in 55 minutes than in the whole of my last year in Sixth Form when we had a Geography class or two with JJ McPartlin. We were just about to discuss climate change when the lesson ended for break – I might have to come back for the lesson on climate change! The break was welcome, and Mike introduced me to the display of the pupils’ art in The North Wall. Going across to Sing’s and meeting Marcia, the Matron, was excellent, and I was taken to see the combined studying and sleeping quarters which have replaced our separate ‘horse boxes’ and large dormitories from the early 1960s. I empathised with Mike when he offered to show me his room but a sort of ‘Clean for

the Queen’ type exercise backfired when a rival dorm led a raid just before I arrived, leaving his room in disarray. I nearly slipped back into ‘Prefect’ mode but bit my tongue. The Classics lesson with Mr Nelmes (whom Mike had advised me was quite a character), offered plenty of support to pupils. I might have tried Greek had he been teaching in my time! I was impressed with the courtesy, respect and manners of the staff towards the pupils. I also sensed that the weakest were not disheartened and the class was encouraged to behave in the same supportive manner – very refreshing to see! The last class, Maths, was a showcase for our esteemed and indefatigable Hon. Sec. John Wiggins, resplendent in his normal Friday garb, a colourful bow tie. What a display as he wrote up things like ‘Quadratic Equations’ and then spurs leading to ‘Factorise’ and ‘Graph Sketching’. The class was then encouraged to split into groups, stand up and scribble on the whiteboards covering each wall of the room. It was like something out of a wondrous movie as everyone rose up in no time at all to bring to life what John had requested. We then had an almost impossible puzzle to complete involving triangles. My lower jaw dropped at the sheer complexity of the maths with these young prodigies steaming away with the challenge.

F E A T U R E S

It was a real privilege to see ‘behind the scenes’, and experience some top-class teaching and get a glimpse of what St Edward’s is quietly achieving. On leaving, I bumped into the Warden, Stephen Jones, and found myself reporting on my visit with the superlative ‘outstanding’, which I believe is the top mark from any visiting inspectorate!