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9
ST EDWARD’S
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Shadowing a Shell
Mike Palau
(B, 1959-1964), Vice-President of the Society shadows a Shell, Mike Denvir (B).
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.
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
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!
F E A T U R E S