(1) Who was the longest serving member of Teaching staff?
A.J. Pender - at least 33 years' service from 1956 to at least 1989
Other long service awards go to:
P.M. Benson 31+ years 1958 to 1989+
J.P. Coles 26+ 1963 to 1988+
D.F. Reynolds 26+ 1963 to 1988+
J.S. Smith 24+ 1949- to 1972
F.E. Holmes 21+ 1949- to 1969
J. Morley 20+ 1949- to 1968v G.J. Coles 20+ 1969 to 1989+
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(2) Who was the longest serving member of non-Teaching staff?
Mr W.H. Risebrow (Groundsman) 22 years 1951 to 1973
Other long service awards go to:
Mr D. Palfrey (Schoolkeeper) 21 years 1966 to 1987
Mr R. Skillen (Laboratory Assistant) 18 years 1959 to 1977
Mrs D.U. Chapman (Canteen Supervisor) 16 years 1964 to 1970
Mrs E.E. Williams (Secretary) 15+ years 1974 to 1989+
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(3) Which years saw large staff turnover rates?
At the end of 1963 17/44 (39%) of Teaching Staff left.
What significant event could have triggered this I wonder?
(The initials JPC come to mind ... and he only took office at Easter!)
Close followers are 1974 (35%) and 1975 (32%).
Significant event? ... Transition to Comprehensive system?
At the end of 1969 12/16 (75%) of non-Teaching Staff left.
Significant event? Any suggestions?
Interestingly the most stable period was 1964 - no Teaching Staff and only one
of non-Teaching Staff left. I guess that those left behind after the night of
the long knives were either comfortable with the new regime or scared witless
by it.
Generally speaking the 1950s was the most stable period and late '60s/early
'70s the least stable ... but I don't suppose that surprises anyone.
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(4) When did 'Second Master' become 'Deputy Headmaster', and who was 'Associate
Headmaster'?
F.E. Holmes was the last 'Second Master' during 1969/70.
B.A. Groome was appointed 'Deputy Headmaster' in 1970.
C. Gregson was appointed 'Associate Headmaster' in 1973, served for two years
and disappeared. The short-term appointment was presumably an administrative
one to support the transition to Comprehensive status.
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(5) Exactly when was the much lusted-after Anne Bruzac French Assistant?
Good question ... she is not listed!
Examination of the voluminous archived correspondence suggests 'around 1972',
yet the Year Books list
1971 Mme M-J. Pochard
1972 Mlle M.M. Gerardin
1973 P. Peton
Was she, after all, just a figment of fertile teenage hormone-enraged imagination?
(Incidentally - Language Assistants ceased to be in 1980. There were no more.)
(Andy Lee, Esteemed Moderator)
"Exactly when was the much lusted-after Anne Bruzac French Assistant ...?" If
google can be used as an alternative to fantasy, in the latter context her dates
appear to be Mayfair Volume 11 Number 1 (January 1976) (John Phillips)
Staff by Year: My impression is that, nationally, the period from 1945
to the early sixties was a reasonably happy time with the economy gradually improving:
no being bombed or shot at is also a great improvement. As far as I can tell,
the staff seemed fairly content. Of the staff there in the early fifties, a number
had been there before the War so, by the fifties they were at an age when they
would not be looking to move unless things were really unpleasant. Similarly,
those who had served in the War had probably had sufficient excitement to last
them. Of those who left for other posts, many left for promotions and no doubt
some of the younger ones left for pastures new where any initial gaucheries would
not be known. As to individuals, the following details have been gleaned from
Magazines, which probably related the more favourable departures: Kittle retired
in 1952; Gotaas left in 1952 to rejoin the army; Russel Jones left in 1952 to
become a Head; in 1953, W.C. Smith retired, and Youngmark and Lawson went on to
other posts; in 1954 Ponting went to another post after one year and Wilkerson
after five; in 1955 Bradshaw wnt to another post after five years; in 1956, Wilson
went to be a Head after eight years and Bell to become a Senior Geography master
after six years; in 1957, Melnick went after a number of years to Ilford County
High (I believe he lived that way), Pryde went to become a Senior Mathematics
Master, and Jennings went to be a PT Master (as opposed to assisting Schofield);
in 1958, Askew went to be a Head and Faithfull went to George Heriot's, Edinburgh
which, I believe, has a good reputation; in 1959 Thomas went to be a Senior Classics
Master in his home territory of South Wales. (J. Alan Smith 1951-59)
Staff stability, changing times and current GCSE results: To gather a few
threads from reactions to Andy's 'Library addition' posting. The loyalty factor
keeping staff at the RLS in the 50's and the 'settling back into civvy life' after
war service have been mentioned. I suggest that there were still sufficiently
recent memories of the pre-war depression and unemployment to cause a certain
nervousness if contemplating 'moving on'. An 'esprit-de-corps' was, I suggest,
a major recruitment and retention factor, with the RLS then perceived status in
the local education pecking order. The current Romford Recorder perhaps reflects
the changing times. It reports on GCSE results for all 20 LB Havering state and
independent schools , ranked by the proportion of last year's GCSE pupils who
achieved at least five grades A to C results. Individual scores are averaged to
give a result for the school, which is represented as "a number around 100". The
Dept. for Education says that scores of 99.3 to 100.7 are "broadly average" and,
"when comparing two schools, differences of up to 0.9 should not be regarded as
significant". Out of the 20 secondary schools shown, The RLS came joint 16th -
along with 2 others (with 98.4). 8 schools scored above and 7 within the 'broad
average'. One 'non-state school' elected not to have its score revealed and 5
(including RLS) were reportedly below the 'broad average'. Others, with access
to the Romford Recorder (or it's 'E-Version') may have their own interpretations.
(Terry Hadert)