Spring/Summer 2021 News from Our Alumnae “I Went to School in a Tudor Palace”
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Spring/Summer 2021 Old Palace Alumnae News Looking forward to a bright and sunny summer! Welcome from the Committee committee members, Hilary Gadd, the time this ‘News’ reaches you, the and one of our students, Sara A, have schools will have been able to return been trained as vaccinators, which is to a more normal routine at school. so worthwhile. And as the rapid roll- I would like to thank everyone who out continues we are looking forward has contributed to this edition, optimistically to a return to a more particularly those of you who normal existence by the summer. contacted me or Nicola Berry directly I have been following the news with your news and articles. Without Bulletins on the school website and items from our alumnae there am amazed at what the staff and wouldn’t be much of a newsletter to girls are managing to achieve with publish, so please keep sending in their online and virtual lessons. I your contributions; we really love to Dear All, have seen articles about PE activities, hear what you are all up to. Maths challenges and even Chemistry I hope this finds you managing to stay experiments all being undertaken at Please enjoy this edition, well and safe. As I prepare this edition home. Please do look up the Bulletins, of ‘News’, we are still unsure how long as they give you such an insight Katy Beck we will have to follow the advice of into what goes on at the school. I Newsletter Editor ‘Stay Local!’ but there is some good am sure that you would like to join news, that the vaccinations are me in sending Jane Burton, and all [email protected] being delivered very rapidly. I would the school community our very best like to let you know that one of our wishes at this time. Hopefully, by As Spring is now upon us along with the bright Contents yellow daffodils to cheer us on our way, there does seem to be a glimmer of hope that some sense of Welcome from the normality will return later in the year. Committee: 2-3 March is the time when we would normally hold News from our Alumnae: 3-12 the Associate Alumnae Afternoon for Year 6 girls. I, together with some OPA members, would go into Teacher’s corner: 12 school and talk to about our school day experiences and then present each pupil with a Daisy Badge. As News from the school: 13 last year was cancelled and this year is postponed until the beginning of July, we thought it would be a John Whitgift Foundation: nice gesture from the OPA to present each girl in Year 14-15 7 and 8 with a Face Mask, as they are now required to wear them in school. With the school logo and Obituaries: 16 purple colour, the girls are delighted with them! Dates for your diary: 16 Looking forward, we are hoping to hold a low key ‘get together’ in the Medieval Gardens on Friday 9th July, instead of our Annual Summer Reunion for OPA Members. Please keep an eye on the OPA pages of the Old Palace website for the latest updates. My thanks go to Katy and her team for their hard work in producing such a lovely Spring Newsletter. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the many challenges that the School community has faced during this past, extraordinary year. I would also like to acknowledge the exceptional job the hard-working staff and Head, Mrs. Burton, have done in done in keeping our wonderful School going under such difficult circumstances. Katherine Homatas Chair OPA 2 The Old Palace Alumnae Newsletter | Spring/Summer 2021 A word from the Head I write this at the end of March; the school re-opened three You can see them here: weeks ago, the daffodils are out in the Medieval Garden, www.youtube.com/channel/UCBqiB4Ik1sypJhM58FrukWQ the clocks have gone forward and I think I talk for the whole school community when I say that there is an air of hope and This has certainly paid off in the sense that despite the impact regeneration around the school. of Covid, our admissions process was very successful and we have very healthy numbers joining in Year 7 and Reception. There is no doubt that this has been a challenging year for everyone, the school community included. However, the Thank you to the OPA for their continuing support; the face defining spirit of Old Palace has shown through and students, masks for the students was an incredibly generous gesture staff, parents and friends have shown their resilience, and very well received and it has been uplifting to have creativity and positivity throughout. Katy mentions the messages of support from you over the past 12 months. Bulletins in her introduction to this newsletter and they As things move on, I hope to see you all back at the School have, each and every week, illustrated the way the school again… something for us all to look forward to! community has stepped up and pulled together in the face of the challenges. I would also like to thank Nicola Berry for her enormous hard work in producing this every week but also for her foresight and creativity in moving Old Palace into the virtual world and for producing such an excellent set of videos that celebrated and showcased the school. Jane Burton Head A Message of Hope persistence and learning from the past Life International Master Leadership to positively influence the future. This Program. The next Master Leadership article brings a message of hope for Program via Zoom is specifically for healthcare services, including aged the UK and European time zones. The care. The last 12 months of the COVID 3 week program will take place from 19 challenge has brought to light how 14th-27th August, 2021 and is provided important it is to ensure that people live via Zoom. The education has been have access to care which is driven developed to be conducive to the by empathy and compassion: the Zoom experience and to enable each catalyst to facilitate the highest level of participant to be actively involved, emotional health. inspired and engaged. 2020 saw the completion of our If you know of aged care homes that organisation’s Spark of Life Model of could benefit from this model, feel Over the last few years, Hilary has Care after 27 years of development and welcome to forward this information kept us up-to-date about her work field testing on 5 continents. The model to them. You may contact us for and progress with Dementia Care shifts attitudes and builds relationships further information on the Spark of International, which she now co-leads. that dynamically and positively Life Model of Care and how this can be It is an organisation that promotes transform dementia care: supportive of current programs: info@ dementiacareinternational.com.au a sustainable model of quality care https://dementiacareinternational. based on empathy, compassion and com/spark-of-lifemodel-of-care/ kindness. This year they are leading a Master Leadership program for the In August 2021, this innovative model international community, including the will be made available for aged care in Hilary Lee UK. She writes: the United Kingdom for the first time. The model of care is implemented by née Muller (1974-1983) One thing I learned from studying a certified Master Practitioner who has at Old Palace School was about successfully completed the Spark of The Old Palace Alumnae Newsletter | Spring/Summer 2021 3 News from our Alumnae A Career in Caring I look back at my time This last year in healthcare, at Old Palace with fond as in all sectors of society, memories. I was 8 years has been tough. Wearing old when I started with my of PPE is essential but best friend and life-long an unfamiliar barrier, chum Claire Tamberlin. My especially in a hospice sister Sarah had started setting where we have three years ahead of us. always relied on the My first memory is of Mrs use of touch and body Townsend teaching us not language in sensitive to put our bags in the rows communications. between desks because One of my passions we could trip over them, as is teaching and I am then she demonstrated! Communications Skills One of the greatest parts of being at Old Palace was realising Lead at our local medical the tradition of the place; to have lessons in Gallery and school, where I find it Stafford, with their uneven floors and traditional school desks exciting to be involved and to sing hymns from our English Hymnal each morning in with the teaching of the Banqueting Hall, its walls steeped in history. Even though future doctors. My desire we were a school in the middle of Croydon we were able is to share knowledge of to enjoy sport – with netball courts (which became tennis palliative care in countries courts in the summer) across the road. Also, there was the that have less resources trip down the underpass to Wandle Park where we played and in doing so, acquire lacrosse in the winter and then athletics in the summer. Most much-needed insight into of my Saturday mornings in the senior school were spent Sioned Evans, 2020, togged up what modern medicine playing sport, which nurtured my competitive spirit! I also in PPE, ready for a day’s work. has lost along the way. engaged in the performing arts, taking part in choir concerts and drama productions.