Farewell to outstanding teachers on their retirement

Three of our much-loved teachers are retiring at the end of this term following an incredible combined service of almost 80 years at RHSB. On Friday 8 July, we will be saying farewell to Dr Mark Golder, Nick Evans and Deborah Cowell.

Dr Mark Golder - Religion, Philosophy and Classics

Mark is our longest serving member of staff retiring this year renowned for his quick wit and dry sense of humour. He joined Bath High School in 1986 and continued to work here through the merger with The Royal School.

Deborah Cowell - Student Welfare Co-ordinator and Joint Head of PSHE

Deborah is a greatly popular member of staff and together with her much loved welfare dogs, Spitfire and Merlin, have been a huge asset to the school and will be sorely missed.

Nick Evans – English

Nick has been a vital member of staff for over 20 years, but perhaps will be best remembered for his legendary ‘Litlunches’ – a popular lunchtime book club for students and staff.

We caught up with Deborah, Nick and Mark to find out about their plans for retirement, what inspired them to become teachers and their experiences at Royal High School Bath.

• When did you join our school?

Mark (MG): September 1986

Debs (DC): September 2000

Nick (NE): September 2001

• What are your plans for after you leave?

MG
Becoming a trustee of an arts organisation in Frome.

DC
I will move back to my home county of Devon to be closer to my parents. I will be doing up an old property, as I can’t resist trying to fix broken or damaged things. I’m hoping I will be able to do some tutoring, specifically with students who are suffering from anxiety or long-term illness and are finding it hard to attend school in person. I also intend indulging my creative side a bit more, and will continue making my wool sculptures, and hopefully selling some of them too, so that my house does not become full of strange woollen things.

NE
My plans are simple for the future: walk the dog, keep CrossFit, tour Ireland and Italy, support a local sports team, read a novel from every country in Africa, and - most of all - enjoy Balcony Box 101 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where, over ten years ago now, a young woman from neighbouring Box 100 leant over and asked, ‘You’re not an English teacher are you?’ I was, and even, thank goodness, remembered her name.

• What first attracted you to teaching?

MG
Love of subject & desire to spread the joy.

DC
To be honest, I never intended becoming a teacher as my dad was one, and always advised me against it. However, I’ve always loved showing off my science knowledge, so getting paid to do it seemed like a good move.

NE
Two experiences suggested teaching for me: the first malaria, the second food. In 1971, during my Upper Fifth O’Levels at Prior Park, my friend Peter from Uganda suffered a bout of malaria and so missed a term’s schooling. As he was good at Maths, I did a deal with him on his return: I’d teach him all he missed in Literature, History and Geography if he helped me with Maths. It worked a treat as my atheistic Maths teacher said my later pass mark of 51% was the only proof of the existence of God he’d seen. The Christian Brothers had taught me how to gamble on the horses, so full marks in the probability question. The second nudge towards teaching was in my student days at Exeter University when a chef from my hall of residence asked me to help him learn to read and write, so I did, and he repaid me with meals, hence those life-long kilos.

• What do you think makes Royal High School Bath special?

MG
The commitment of the staff.

DC
I knew from the start that there was something special about RHSB, and that’s why I started and will end my teaching career here. It’s not just the beautiful surroundings and the rather quirky buildings. It’s the fact that RHSB students have something special about them.

NE
Two things I’ve greatly enjoyed at RHSB have been the International Baccalaureate and working in the Sixth Form team, where you can’t sneeze without receiving comprehensive pastoral care (and a jar of Vic vapour rub). The kindness of colleagues and the care and consideration the students receive are two reasons I didn’t want to stop working at sixty in 2015. The best thing a student can receive is a teacher’s time, I guess. I’ve enjoyed teaching the IB; I await the day of seeing our IB credentials emblazoned on the back of every Bath bus rather than, as someone on SLT once remarked, ‘in places you wouldn’t necessarily think of.’

What was your proudest moment as a teacher here?

MG
Three girls being in top five nationally for Philosophy A Level 20+ years ago

DC
My proudest moments as a teacher is when pupils have really exceeded expectations when encouraged to do so.

NE
A student here once said she could happily fall asleep listening to me reading at Litlunch, ‘just reading’ as another called it. I guess another pleasure has been writing references (from Criminology to Theology from Medicine to Physics with Philosophy), as well as helping with essays, personal statements and job applications. One student cried after reading my reference for her as she said I’d described the daughter her parents had always wanted her to be.

• Do you have any memories that really stand out?

MG
Being the ‘go-between’ member of SLT at the time of the merger

DC
Probably the memory that stays in my mind is when we tragically lost Evie Clover in Year 8 to a brain tumour. We had her year group assembled in the Hudson Centre to tell them the news, and Spitfire wandered around and sat with whichever students needed him most. I have never seen such empathy in a dog.

• Tell us something we might not know about you?

MG
I was a Benedictine novice 1985-6 in the Vale of Pickering

• In one word, how would your students describe you?

MG
Mmmm – benevolent?

NE
One word to describe me might be ‘lugubrious’ as, once again at Prior Park, having read the epistle at daily mass, I was approached by my Latin teacher with, ‘Ah , Nicholas, lugubrious as ever.’ Lugubrious – oh, the magic of that word, the joy of its ‘ous’ ending!

• Do you have any parting words of wisdom or ‘words to live by’ for our current students and alumnae?

MG
Solve the problems you can and don’t keep worrying about the ones you can’t.

DC
If I have two pieces of parting advice for students young and old, it would be these: Anxiety is good. It stops us getting out of the car when we are in a Safari Park. Anxiety is designed to keep us in the gene pool, so embrace it and use it for your advantage. If you can’t change a situation, change how you feel about it.NE
For the students themselves, I’d say the following: don’t learn alone. As with the chef and my mate from Uganda, work with someone at school. Studying English at Exeter University, a girl in my first year called Mary asked me to help her writing literary essays, so I did so weekly; we then agreed that whoever finished their essay first would take the other out for a Devonshire cream tea at nearby Newton Poppleford, where she regularly ate five scones to my three. Ironically, she gained a first while I didn’t. This working together continued here at RHSB sharing lessons with Nick Hayward, Lizzie Cunningham and Luke Benedict; brilliant for the students, buoyant for the teachers. These four examples show the benefit of avoiding the isolation of modern learning, the specious metrification of education, the spurious policies of politicians. Find a friend; learn a lesson. To adapt the Liverpool song, it’s better not to work alone.

Thanks to their extraordinary commitment, the school has benefited greatly from all that Nick, Mark and Deborah have contributed to our students and staff. We are so grateful for their many years of dedicated service and wish them all the very best in their retirement and new adventures.