To Read & So...
Alumnae and Friends
Ozioma Obi née Okonkwo year of 1991
LEWISHAM AND GREENWICH
NHS CHOIR
SOMETHING INSIDE SO STRONG
Summer 2016
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Editor
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Contents
We hear from the year of 1966 fifties on. What a great bunch and what a happy group of 150 we were at lunch in May! Alumnae will receive additional, personal news and photos in a new edition, Jags Journeys, an annual publication. Please keep sending your news to share, joyful or otherwise, with the alumnae family. We are always. Alison Venn
Communications, alumnae, legator & donor relations
14 Jodie Jackson on positive psychology year of 2006 17 Anita Brookner writer and art historian year of 1946 19 Winifred Knights artist and pupil at JAGS 1912 - 1915
Jo Denham, Marketing Manager: jo.denham@jags.org.uk (020 8613 6369) Kate Cheshire, Marketing & Communications Co-ordinator: kate.cheshire@jags.org,uk (020 8613 6495) Yang Ming Ooi, Database & Research Co-ordinator: yangming.ooi@jags.org.uk (020 8613 6497) Alison Venn, Head of Communications: alison.venn@jags.org.uk (020 8693 1181 ext 6440) Marketing & Communications, James Allen’s Girls’ School 144 East Dulwich Grove, London SE22 8TE www.jags.org.uk Lawton Print Design Ltd • T: 07932 624 218 • www.lawton-pd.co.uk
Headmistress of JAGS
12 Medics and Vets at JAGS today
Contacts
Have you signed up to the alumnae website yet? alumnae.jags.org.uk
Sally-Anne Huang
06 Ozioma Obi year of 1991 Paediatric Consultant in Neonatal Intensive Care Lewisham Hospital NHS
This issue is about courage, about daring to take a fresh look at the world around you and being original. History and tradition have their place, and Sally-Anne explores notions of these further, but we must never be afraid to reinvent ourselves. Just think of the changes James Allen made to perceptions of education of girls. To read and to sew, for a start, when the boys were simply expected to learn to read. Hats off to former pupil Ozioma Obi, combining career, triplet boys and NHS choir performances at Glastonbury; and to Jodie Jackson whose demand for positive news is making reporters and broadcasters sit up and listen. Take a look at our brilliant writer Anita Brookner and her contribution to the literary wealth of this country. Be swept along in admiration of our artist Winifred Knights, the first woman to win the prodigious award for decorative painting by the British School at Rome, a retrospective of whose exquisite work at Dulwich Picture Gallery is delighting the critics.
21 Year of 1966 celebrating 50 years on
Within the past twelve months, I have had the unique opportunity of stepping down from one headship, in a girls’ school whose history and ethos I had come to treasure, and taking up a second headship – this time in your school, the oldest girls’ school in London with a track record and heritage arguably second to none. This exceptional experience has both underlined aspects of education I would have claimed to have known anyway, but also highlighted for me the place of any one individual in the history of an institution and the need for schools in particular to succeed in a paradox; they must remain the same whilst constantly changing. When you are the head of an institution, it is perfectly possible to fall into the trap of thinking you are in control and, to an extent, this is the truth. You do have to lead others, make the key decisions and stand up to the challenges. However, it’s also essential to understand that there are forces at work stronger than any one person and, I suspect, the older the institution, the truer that must be. These forces are embedded in abstract words such as ethos, ideals and principles. They may be abstract but we recognise them when we see them and if the leader flies in the face of them, they will fail not only themselves but also the school. During my eight years of leadership at Kent College, Pembury, I tried my best to rise to the challenges of the
04 To Read & So... decisions and the planning. However, it was in the stepping down, and making way for others, that I really understood headship – and a better word for it would be stewardship. No matter how key to life I was at Kent College during my time there, the truth is I am not there now and the school must keep going, hopefully supported by what I did there but not dependent on me. Therefore, second time around, I have arrived at JAGS safe in the knowledge that it is not my school, rather it is my responsibility, and understanding and treasuring the ethos has been the first of my aims. And what a history and ethos it is. We must go right back to 1741 and James Allen himself, as the title of this publication implies. To have the vision to educate girls as well as boys back then is extraordinary and we can honour that vision by trying to understand the modern choices we have to make, sometimes flying in the face of the easy decision. This is what I mean by staying the same and moving forward. If James Allen was at the cutting edge of education, we must be so too. Educating girls in now a given; staying on top of teenage mental health issues, discussing fundamentalism in all its forms, acknowledging anxiety amongst teenage girls and rising to the challenges of modern prejudices such as islamophobia or transphobia are the twenty first century equivalents. Therefore, in re-inventing our pastoral and PSHCE programmes this year, I feel we have been true to James Allen’s vision. It has also been a pleasure this year to work with the other foundation schools in tracing back our DNA to Edward Alleyn and 1616. Joint concerts and charity events have helped me to understand the value in that relationship and see it as one which must be maintained. Meanwhile, the girls continue to work more closely with the boys of Dulwich College, as we strive to have the best of single sex education combined with co-educational experiences. Again, we develop but remain the same.
To Read & So... 05 If anything, second time around, I am aware that I am the new girl, stepping into a community which has been running for over 250 years. And I need help to understand it. The out-going head girl team and current staff body have been invaluable in this respect and I will be forever in their debt. I have met many JAGS alumnae and have sought their help in getting to the bottom of what JAGS is really about – and I won’t stop learning so please don’t stop getting in touch. However, if I ever forget this role of stewardship and the importance of understanding a school ethos, I only have to read the words beneath the portrait of James Allen which hangs on the stairway close to my office. He was keen for us to remember that he was ‘skilled as a skater’ (he would have been proud of our extra-curricular programme today) and that he was a giant in the eighteenth century at ‘six feet tall’. But it’s the final note that carries the most weight as our founder’s last comment is ‘… and humane’. When we launch our new website in September you will see both James Allen and his humanity greatly emphasised – and that humanity is the reason I came to JAGS and the quality I most want to maintain.
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In conversation with
NHS LEWIS
Ozioma Obi
HAM
née Okonkwo year of 1991 MBBS MRCPCH MSc
AND
CHO GREE
NWIC
H
IR
Paediatric Consultant in Neonatal Intensive Care, Lewisham Hospital NHS SOM
ETHI
NG IN
SIDE
SO
STRO NG On being a doctor mother of triplets and a member of Lewisham and Greenwich NHS choir
A member of the choir founded by Gareth Malone in his BBC series Sing While You Work, with a number one single at Christmas 2015, a new album released, Something Inside So Strong, and with performances notched up including singing Abide With Me and the national anthem alongside rap star Tinie Tempah at the FA Cup final to 90,000 people at Wembley stadium, performing on the same stage on the same day as Adele at the 2016 Glastonbury Festival, and with the film rights practically sold, it’s no wonder Ozy is still pinching herself!
girls at UCL who’d been at JAGS and they were insistent that we had to go to UCL. They were so positive about their experience that I changed my whole UCCA form. I’d already decided to get away from home, go to Leeds or Birmingham, and I hadn’t even put UCL on the form! But they were so fired up that I re-wrote my entire application. Thankfully I got in. I just knew I wanted to be around children, so if I hadn’t have become a doctor I would have become a teacher. At Sunday School I used to line up all the children and pretend to teach them.
Have you always wanted to be a doctor?
My parents drummed into me that you get as many qualifications as possible because you need them when you are up against others. I wrote research proposals for my MSc but haven’t gone into research because teaching and being a hands-on doctor is what I love best.
I have no idea where the idea of becoming a doctor came from. I was 5 years old when I decided that and I was 7 when I wanted to become a children’s doctor. My Dad told me it was called a paediatrician. I’m so glad I didn’t get laughed at as a 5 year old voicing these ambitions. My parents were very supportive. Coming from a big academic Nigerian family, we were always hearing about people graduating so that was something I didn’t think twice about. And through school I picked the right subjects so it just all fell into place. I trained at UCL. Aspiring medics had a visit from
What are the joys of looking after tiny babies? We do get a little bit attached to them! For example, we looked after pre-term twin girls and one of my colleagues saw them in clinic 6-8 weeks after they’d left the unit. They’d had their ups and downs, both went home in oxygen. We see such babies at 3, 4 and 6 months till at least
they are 2 years old, when they are a certain gestation. He was examining one of the twin sisters in a follow up clinic consultation and she was crying. They were 17 months which means they were even younger if you correct the age to when they would have been born. And she said loudly “No No!” as if to protect her sister and offered her a crisp to cheer her up before she took one for herself! You remember them being so tiny and then you see them walk and talk and you’ve followed their progress together with the parents. What are the challenges of your role? Getting the balance between concentrating on the care of the baby and looking after the parents can be difficult. Where we are now is the seminar room where we bring new parents and chat to them about what to expect, particularly if their baby is very, very tiny, like 25 weeks, 650 grammes and we explain to them that we don’t know the outcome. Some babies survive and some don’t. I tend to have a chat and give them an understanding of what could happen, including the worst case scenario and, once I feel they have a good grasp of that, I tell them it is a good thing also to have hope. It mustn’t be unfounded but it’s good not to take that away. I ask if they have a faith because we have a really, really good chaplain team here – we can bring in an Imam, a priest or other faith leader to talk to them. Sometimes if their baby is passing away we will have the baby baptised. About half the babies here are preterm babies who are very small and very sick and others who are full–term but very sick. And others who are not so sick, but too sick for midwifery care. There’s a combination of those who can be reunited with their mothers on the post-natal ward quite quickly and others who might be with us for six
08 To Read & So... months. This used to be a surgical centre and we could have tiny babies of a day old who need help because, say, their oesophagus was not formed properly. We would often look after babies whose families were far from home. One of the biggest challenges is getting the balance between being professional and giving comfort and support. The nurses are closer to the parents for a longer period of time and we’re the ones often giving the news that is not so good.
Some of the most challenging situations are when you’ve done everything you can do for a baby and you’ve reached the point where you can do no more. It’s really important that you and the parents are on the same page at the same time, even if it means not withdrawing treatment for a couple of days. You are thinking of the best interests of the baby, but it might not be the right time for the parents, and they are the ones who have to live with it for the rest of their lives. Can you describe a typical day? There are 5 consultants who are sub-specialised in neonatal care, which is quite unusual for a smallish hospital. So it means we have been taken off any duties relating to other, bigger children’s care. When we have a week in charge, the day starts at 8am and on a Monday the outgoing consultant will do the ward round with the incoming consultant. We will go from cot to cot and invite the parents in to hear. We give the plans for the day to the team. For example, if a baby is on a ventilator, we might feel the baby is ready to come off and be in the next stage of support. We go down to the
To Read & So... 09 labour ward and liaise with the obstetric teams and midwife and find out if there any cases expected which might involve us. We have a multi-disciplinary team in the afternoon – consultant, radiologist, microbiologist and nursing team and we talk through each patient. That’s pretty much the structure of the day. At 5.30pm the day consultant will have a ward round with the incoming consultant for the evening. When I start on at 8 o clock on a Monday my responsibility continues until 5pm the following day. You can go home say at 6.30pm but if anything happens or if there are any questions you have to go back. Over the weekend, my responsibility is from 8am Friday until Monday morning. A couple of weeks ago I went home at 7pm, was called at 12.45am and 3.45am and then stayed till 12 noon that day. Yes, it’s a big ask but it's all just part of the job. We have teaching responsibilities during the day too. The fact that I was able to become a consultant is because I was trained by consultants. So I teach on the job ad hoc and on ward rounds, but also have structured teaching times. We regularly assess junior doctors and teach medical students. What’s quite interesting about my journey as well is that this was one of the hospitals in which I worked when I was a junior doctor. My 2nd ever paediatric job was here, so some of the nurses remember me as a junior doctor. I’ve been a consultant since 2007 and here at Lewisham since 2009. Even when I came back to look around before the interview I instantly felt as though I’d come home – I know it sounds clichéd, but I really had. The whole unit was exactly the same as it was when I was here as a junior doctor. I even remember the room when I did the first intubation of a tiny baby and my first exchange transfusion. Everything happens for a reason. It’s absolutely the right place for me to be, especially for wanting a family, and for being so close to my parents. I live 20 minutes away from them. How do you juggle your career with having triplet boys? My husband, Somto, is literally a Super-Dad! He works full time as a finance manager in
the city. We have a nanny only to cover our working hours and I work full-time. So when we have those stretches when I’m in charge for the week, Monday to Monday, I leave him with our boys all weekend! He’s amazing. He’s supported me for choir practice. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without him at all. We met at a cultural club for young Igbos (Nigerian tribe). I realised I didn’t know enough about my cultural background, particularly the language.
Thanks to Mrs Stolkin, who is my absolute heroine, I am pretty fluent in French But I couldn’t speak much Igbo. So I started to go to this social club every month to give me a chance to learn the language, and that’s how we met. The minute my mum heard that I was going to have three babies she decided to retire and from that day she’s been helping, when the babies were tiny, coming to the house very day, helping out, bringing food and now walking the boys to school. I’m very blessed with my family. If you had a magic wand, how would you fix the NHS? The patients would come first all the time. It does happen most of the time, but there are budget constraints. The whole raison d’être of the NHS is for patients. Nothing really works unless you’re supporting them. The person in charge of deciding how much money we get and where the money goes needs to understand what happens day to day and provide the appropriate funding support. Tell me about being part of a Gareth Malone choir in the Sing While You Work series? I didn’t get into the original
choir for the BBC series, but later on I auditioned and became a member of the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir in July 2014, but because of my baby boys I couldn’t attend regularly at the time. So I started again in January 2016 just after the choir got their Christmas no. 1. I used to go to netball on a Monday, so I asked my husband and just substituted going to netball with the choir. Almost as soon as I started back we had a call from Universal Records, Decca, “We want you to sign you to our label and to record an album.” Literally we didn’t believe it, until a week later when they came back to say we were going to start rehearsing Tuesdays and Thursday evenings and then record in Air Studios, Hampstead on Sundays. Our musical directors have been first the Mitchell brothers, Peter - the accompanist from the Gareth Malone programme, and currently Phil. When the programme finished, the Trust agreed to fund us between the filming and the release of the single, Bridge Over You. It is really nice after a busy day to go down to the auditorium for rehearsals. There’s another set of friends from the social point of view. When you’re here you have to have a professional relationship, but because you don’t work with the nurses, doctors, clergy directly you can have an absolute laugh with everyone in the choir. It means the creative side of me is able to flourish. I was in a Church choir before I married and moved to South London, so to sing again is really nice. To look at people who are enjoying you singing is great. I’ve bumped into Miss Kley in the Chapel a couple of times. It’s so nice seeing teachers again.
10 To Read & So... I hear that the film rights have possibly been bought and if a film were to be made it would be really good to show the journey of our choir. So many things have happened. The whole series of Singing in the Workplace is just so random. If you think about chronicling some of the scenes and choir stories that would play through the movie – a Christmas number 1, a coach trip crash, stories behind the staff, people’s lives, people’s families, the fact some of the choir are junior doctors, meeting Justin Beiber... That was really funny. We went together by train from Ladywell to a posh hotel in Holborn and waited. They asked us who were to meet and we didn’t know! We were taken to the suite and then he walked in. It was really nice of him to
support us.
To Read & So... 11 JAGS Gems I remember so vividly the first ever French lesson with Mrs Stolkin and the room it was in – and she only spoke to us in French the whole lesson. I remember thinking, I don’t understand a word this lady has spoken! She was so meticulous on the accent and wouldn’t let things slip. I think it clearly worked. I called her up last year and she remembered me! Amazing! I remember Charity Weeks. I don’t know any other schools at the time held such events. From an early age we were given the responsibility of thinking of others, raising funds. In the sixth form I remember buying massive sacks of potatoes, scrubbing them, baking them all, scooping out the insides and selling them with different fillings from the common room window for £1.50 each. It was that idea of thinking of different ways to make money for people less fortunate than ourselves I remember the willow tree in summer. In our day we went to hang out there and chat. The old order gardens in the days of Mrs Mico – I didn’t do the Gardening Club but I was impressed by all the plants there. Picking blackberries. Getting chairs thrown at us by the William Penn boys. The brand new Sports Hall…..
I think I was quite shy when I started and a bit quiet. Interestingly, it was when I was allowed to wear contact lenses and ditched my ugly glasses that I suddenly found myself. School has given me confidence and the ability to know I could achieve. The year we started was the year Mrs Davies had the Home Economics rooms taken out and Technology workshops put in, so to know that you were doing silversmithing, working with plastics, you were drilling, as a girl, knowing your school believed in you that way was what drove a lot of people to do well. The one thing I’ve tried to do is to support people who might not have been given that opportunity through their school. For example, we have loads of people who do work experience and I try unofficially to mentor them. And my mum and dad have fostered for 19 years now, so they’ve had lots of children to support. So as well as having our siblings we have the chance to support other children who haven’t had the same start. I just feel so blessed that we had the chances we did. I didn’t ever have anyone say ‘You can’t do this, this isn’t for you.’ It would be quite be easy to put someone off. I was able to live my life as myself. One of the things that always struck me about JAGS was that the intake was of as many different backgrounds as possible; I felt there were lots of different sorts of people around me so you could just be yourself. Would that be your school motto?
JAGS Genes I played netball with Miss Day and hockey with Miss Johnson. Since I left school, I’ve tried loads of other ways of keeping fit - aerobics, the gym - and they’ve all completely failed. Then one day I was watching the England netball team in a match on television, and they were urging people to go back to netball. I found a club in Kennington Park and I joined. I played Goal Defence and eventually they asked me to play in matches! It’s the only thing that really gets me fit - netball and hockey.
Be yourself. You can see from those who have left they are doing so many different things. There is a genuine commitment for children to help other children in the community and share facilities. It helps children to grow up knowing it’s good to share. That’s what I’ve taken. I’m positive and I try to be happy. You learn to behave in a calm way. It’s a team, working in the NHS - lots of people working together. You know about the doctors and the nurses but the works people who look after the systems in the hospital, the premises and the domestics without them nothing would function. They are pieces of the puzzle.
The NHS is like the choir, it’s not just about the person leading but also the person booking the rehearsal spaces. And the different voices that make up the harmony. It just wouldn’t sound right without all the parts, without the team. Advice for aspiring medics? Once you’re sure you are doing it for the right reasons, not just to keep other people happy, you will love what you do and it is an extremely satisfying life-time calling. Take your time to decide on your specialist area and try to experience as many of them as possible … Then pick Paediatrics! (smiley face) What book is by your bed? In the Night Garden & Peppa Pig books for the boys to read when they jump into our bed, or medical journals and text books. I don’t read novels. What music do you listen to? R&B and Gospel Would you choose trainers or Jimmy Choos? I love heels – so Jimmy Choos Would you prefer a quiet night in or dinner in a restaurant/ out? Definitely a restaurant with my husband, or the Gastro Club. A group of us became close friends when we were paediatric trainees and enjoy meals together at venues working our way through the alphabet! Most of us are now consultants, so we've all grown together.
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To Read & So... 13 helped me was to offer the Extended Project Qualification, because it’s a great opportunity to focus on whatever subject interests you in more depth. I wrote about Alzheimer’s disease, because I volunteer regularly on Saturdays at a day centre for dementia patients in Beckenham. Through the school I volunteered at Goose Green Primary School and interestingly one of the children I helped was autistic.” Saarah had to choose between two universities. “Both courses have the opportunity to dissect and to learn about human anatomy. I have dissected a frog in Biology Society here! I’m not squeamish, although it’ll be big jump from a frog to the human body. The biggest thrill will be the opportunity to learn more in depth about the human body. It’ll be really interesting to learn in detail about the parts of the body and how they work and what happens when they go wrong. It’ll be good to learn about new research opportunities to find cures developed with technology. At our Medical Society I heard a JAGS parent working in cardiology and he told us about his work abroad training others how to perform life-saving operations. I really want to do that when I grow older. I’d love to travel and experience other cultures and to make a positive difference.
Medics & Vets at JAGS today Undaunted by the national statistic that only half of the applicants receive an offer, 18 JAGS girls, a mix of current of sixteen Y13s (pictured) and two 2015 leavers, have won places to read medicine and veterinary medicine at top universities. What an outstanding result. Alumna Ozi Obi (featured on pages 6-11 ) would relate to Imogen’s love of making music. Imo has been volunteering at Nightingale House, a home for Jewish patients with dementia. She’s considering which medical course to choose, explaining that there are two main teaching styles in medicine – traditional, like you might get at Oxford or Cambridge, and then PBL - problem-based learning, working in groups to look at situations. “Cardiff uses
case-based learning which seems to be a fusion of both. In one of my interviews they asked me how I thought my music would help. Everyone knows its team-work in an orchestra which is really important, but I was thinking that music might be a good way to connect with patients. The dementia patients where I volunteer really like singing. People are not very keen to talk about their life because they don’t necessarily remember it, but music works. You have to find new ways of communication.” Lydia spends a lot of her time on music, violin and piano. “I think it’s good because it’s completely different. It’s nice to have an outlet and another focus.” She is particularly interested in neurology. “I’m very excited about the course at Oxford. I think there are lots of opportunities for research which I want to get involved in. One of the ways the school has
I volunteer at QE Hospital on the wards talking to the patients I serve lunch and chat with them. I’ve spent time helping at a hospice too. I thought it would be really sad going in there, but I was surprised how optimistic the patients were and the carers were trying to make life as bearable as possible. We were playing games and so on. It was really good to make any small contribution that I could.” Katrina, Alex and Rhiannon set up a Vet Society at Tuesday lunchtimes this year for the younger girls, Rhiannon explains “We wanted to open up their eyes to the profession and to let them in on the process we were going through. We talk through relevant issues and topics, so I did a presentation on animals in captivity and animal testing, which has really been useful in preparing us for interviews – it’s the sort of thing that could come up.
We talk to them about work experience because it’s a big part of the application process.” For someone who was totally enthralled by her EPQ subject, how animals communicate in the wild and domestic settings, having the ethologist and UN messenger for peace, Dr Jane Goodall DBE, visit the school in March was a dream come true. “Not only did we learn about her work with chimpanzees, but she really opened my eyes to conservation and the change all of us could make to the world.”
Y13s Lucy Mellers, Jane Murphy, Livia Khullar and Mayurey Kalaravy celebrated news of a wonderful win in March at Imperial College in the Y12-Y13 category of the Schools’ Science competition. Challenged to solve a social problem, the girls came up with an innovative way to stop food wastage. No more ‘Use By…’ ‘Sell By…’ or ‘Best before…’ dates – these four have invented a tab which, inserted into the product, tells you if there’s a high level of bacteria in the food. Brilliant!
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Jodie Jackson year of 2006
Currently taking a Master’s in Positive Psychology
Let’s report the positive
A constant stream of negative news led Jodie Jackson to study positive psychology. From both her academic work and personal experience, she argues that we need to turn our attention to solutions-focused news, for the benefit of ourselves and the wider world. It’s been a really exciting journey. I went to university and did a degree in finance, which is not where my focus has been since. The summer I graduated, I began questioning journalism and the news industry, purely from the point of view of the consumer, because I found the news to be too depressing, despite having studied Economics and Politics and being interested in Current Affairs. I noticed myself becoming disengaged. When I could no longer bear to hear one more bit of bad news, I knew that the news industry was lacking something. I thought, if I’m motivated to know but I’m attracted to the idea of choosing ignorance, how many others feel the same? What would it take to keep me informed in a way that kept me engaged? And since I first asked myself that question, I have become unstoppably passionate about the answer, which is what is now termed Constructive Journalism. So Instead of switching off because I found it too depressing, I began to read more widely to seek out some sort of balance. In doing so, I was inspired and I began a website called what a good week, which was an aggregation
of what I considered to be solutions–focused news stories published each week, not with the aim of nor advocating for a wholly good news newspaper, but to provide myself the balance. I found the stories incredibly valuable sources of information. They weren’t just feel good stories to elicit positive emotions, it was actually really valuable information that was addressing problems that weren’t being reported in the mainstream media. That was one of the reasons I wanted to create the website, to have a tangible example when I was talking to people about good news. What began as emotional relief became really inspiring. So many amazing stories from around the world impact us and aren’t trivial, inconsequential stories – they are stories of real value. “It was the realisation that the news produced such a strong emotional experience in me that led me to start a Master’s degree in positive psychology. I sought to understand the psychological impact of the news and to understand what contributes to the flourishing and optimal functioning of us as individuals.” I wanted to connect with people in the same field. I thought I was doing something revolutionary, but I was inspired to find out there were other people and organisations doing the same thing. In an effort to gather those involved, I put on an event at the British Museum in 2012 with Martyn Lewis & Sean
Dagan Wood. Martyn was the first broadcaster to speak publicly about the importance of positive news stories and was quite heavily ridiculed, almost fired from the BBC. I connected with the editor of Positive News who also spoke and together we addressed about 100 people – freelancers, news editors and other media reps and journalists. I was amazed by how many organizations were doing something similar and was keen to learn more about the impact this type of journalism was having on the reader, so I enrolled in a Master’s degree in Positive Psychology at University of East London to research the psychological impact of the news. I chose Positive rather than Clinical Psychology because I was interested in what was making people flourish. Rather than clinical psychology which is studying pathology, I wanted to look at constructive elements of personality and psychology and mirror that to the news industry. I felt I had to do a Master’s because it was very difficult to get people outside of the field to engage in the conversation; they assumed I was naïve or ignorant and although I had passion, personal experience and opinion, it could only take me so far; for the industry to listen and other consumers to become aware, I had to have something more substantial that was backed by evidence, science and statistics. Since then it’s been really exciting. I have completed my research into the psychological impact of the news on the individual and society, looking at the current negativity bias and more positive publications. In an effort to bring this conversation into a more public space, I have created a 3 minute spoken word poem about it, which online readers can see using this link, or by copying it into your browser. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QihDrQJtKys Originally I wanted to a make an hour long documentary. Many people advised me not to, suggesting that we all have a very short attention span and recommended instead that I produce something under 5 minutes, so that’s where the poem came from. The content was a summary of my research findings.
The whole process has been trial and error. It’s fairly uncharted territory when it comes to integrating constructive journalism with a news organisation’s systems, education or even speaking direct to the consumer. From
the moment I started my website, it’s been a case of running with it as far as I can. I’ll need to change course at some time, because you can only create so much impact from one thing. The documentary idea was that the industry was beginning to talk to itself; we’re being included in industry conferences, but I think there’s still a conversation that needs to happen with the consumer in order to enable them to become conscious consumers. When consumers become aware of the impact a product has on their wellbeing, they become more selective about what they take in. Conscious consumers have changed so many industries over time. If you look at the tobacco industry, or the food or sugar industry, or even yoga, physical health has changed because people are becoming aware of the impact what they consume has on them. Food is to the body what information is to the mind. As we become more aware of the impact on us, we start making different choices. The documentary idea was trying to make the link between the industry and the consumer but not everybody got it, so I made the video
16 To Read & So... as a way to scratch the surface of the message I was trying to give and to see if it will gather interest. It has! I’ve connected with other people in the field of journalism and it is a growing movement so it’s really exciting to be a part of it and to share my work and my research. I’m speaking through universities at the moment as a guest lecturer – at South Bank, at Hull, King’s … I’m speaking at LSE this summer. I was invited to speak in Vienna at the European Newspaper Congress and I was on a panel with the UN Director General. Definitely a highpoint. There have been frustrations. Initially there was a lot of resistance to the idea of solutions–focused journalism. I’d been trying to have conversations about solutions–focused journalism with people in the industry for three or four years, unsuccessfully. I was sending emails about what we were doing, but no one was really that interested. It wasn’t having the kind of impact I was hoping for, but the video was a lot more accessible, it was a lot more entertaining than reading an email, so I sent it round to a few people and it just opened so many doors. Media commentator Roy Greenslade picked it up for The Guardian and potentially I will be speaking at City University to their journalism students next year.
I’ll be speaking a conference in Copenhagen in November and I’m also presenting my research in Brussels at the end of the year. Technically my Master’s dissertation is finished but I can’t submit it until August. But it’s been sent out. It’s so exciting because you have no idea how much you can do. I’ve started working with Constructive Journalism in a more official capacity (www.constructivejournalism.org). We’re going to run a conference to try to bring everyone together in the UK Feb 2017. Hopefully it will have an impact but you never know until you get there. You do something, squeeze as much juice out of it as possible and then start something new, hopefully with the leverage of the last to make the next thing bigger. It’s like walking with your eyes closed and putting your arms out and seeing what you hit. It’s organised chaos. Each step is tiny but when you say it all together I realise how far I’ve come!
JAGS gems: All my best friends are my bridesmaids! I remember great support. If 1’d been at any other school I doubt I’d have got my GCSEs, let alone a Master’s. I remember when I got told I wouldn’t get back into the sixth form but that wasn’t really an option. It was “No, we’re going to help you.” That’s the biggest thing because I’m so grateful to JAGS for that.
Anita Brookner We salute the extraordinary life and career of alumna Anita Brookner, whose novel Hotel du Lac won the 1984 Booker prize. She came to JAGS at the beginning of the war and died as she had lived, in privacy in London on 10 March 2016. The safety she found at JAGS was mirrored darkly at home. She loved her parents “painfully”, as The Times obituary quoted, but disliked the eclectic mix of those adults who surrounded them. When Anita came home from a day in the normality of JAGS, “I had to rearrange myself before I went in,” she said. A footnote from alumna Margaret Westwood: “I got a General Work Prize in 1946. The prize giving was a very special occasion because the prizes were being presented by the Rt Hon R A Butler himself and one of the sixth formers who collected an armful of books was Anita Brookner. There was a tea-party held for the prize-winners after the ceremony. I felt very alone (none of my friends had been awarded prizes) and quite uncomfortable – especially when a big man with a booming voice spoke to me saying, “Well young lady, what’s your best subject?” I was struck dumb with embarrassment, but Anita Brookner came to my rescue, saying “She’s good at everything, that’s why she’s got the General Work Prize.” In recollecting this little episode I feel it suggests that, even as a teenager, Anita showed
JAGS genes: I feel like all the lessons that JAGS tried to teach me I didn’t really appreciate until later. I think what it gave me was a love of learning but it was a delayed response. It gave me all the tools I needed to do what I wanted at the time when I was ready. If we had a school motto, what would it be: Care, Courtesy and Consideration. 100%.
www.theguardian.com/media/ greenslade/2016/apr/14/lets-report-thepositive-a-poem-advocating-new-news-values Anita Brookner as a prefect at JAGS 1945-6
To Read & So... 17 sensitivity and awareness of other’s discomfort which was a theme she later explored so eloquently in her novels. “ Alumna Kath Davies was in the same class as Anita Brookner. “I saw her at an old girls’ meeting. Her friends there very much admired her career – and she always wore glamorous clothes!” Who knows what lights the touch paper for literary genius? There’s no doubt that she shows exceptional skill with words even at school. Read her witty account of a Harvest camp in Wiltshire: Ah, those days of being orderly, when tea was tea and I upset everything, when food was cooked in a fine devil-may-care manner, when there were frightening controversies over the creaming of butter and sugar, when blood was nearly shed over the question of Angela Lawson’s bread…. And although these were times when I longed to be treated as something fairly normal, and had visions of a meal served with civility, nay respect, now that I am once more immersed in the inky waters of my former life and enveloped in the trivial round, the common task, I am surprised to find that I miss it. When sternly ordered by my mother to wash, I remember with a strange nostalgia the unlimited filth that I used to rejoice in. I think of my slacks with a sort of unquiet pain. Readers will be glad to hear that they are preserved in all their dirty splendour for next year – still rolled up!
18 To Read & So...
To Read & So... 19
Artist Winifred Knights 1899-1947 Pupil at JAGS 1912-15 Summer exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery, 8 June – 18 September ‘Acclaimed, admired, then forgotten,’ says the Evening Standard about our former pupil, Winifred Knights. No longer. Dulwich Picture Gallery’s outstanding exhibition has opened to stellar praise with five (gold) stars from The Telegraph and reviewers queuing up to marvel about the works they see. With the deftest of touches, curator Sacha Llewellyn has sequenced Winifred’s life story in drawings and paintings in the most fluid wave. Swept into the central gallery, pause to gaze at her awardwinning painting The Deluge, sympathetic to the urgency and alarm in the peasant faces as they struggle to flee the advancing floods. The
Anita Brookner, (born July 16, 1928, London died March 10, 2016) JAGS 1939-1946 Prolific and award winning author and Art Historian Anita Brookner was known for her novels portraying lonely people, especially middle-aged women. Her fourth novel Hotel Du Lac won the Booker Prize in 1984. It was described by the judges as a “work of perfect artifice”. She was born into an immigrant family in Herne Hill and was an only child. Both sides of the family were Polish Jews who opened their London home to refugees escaping persecution by the Nazis. Anita studied History at King’s College, London. She received a Ph.D. from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and then held several teaching positions, including one year as the first woman Slade Professor of Art at the University of Cambridge. She wrote several books of art criticism during this time, including Jacques-Louis David (1967), The Genius of the
Future: Studies in French Art Criticism (1971), and Greuze: The Rise and Fall of an EighteenthCentury Phenomenon (1972). In the early 1980s she began to concentrate on writing fiction. Anita Brookner’s novels have been compared to those of Jane Austen in that they are witty comedies of manners limited in scope to the experiences of a small group of people. Unlike Austen, however, Anita often presented a bleak view of life, much of which deals with the experiences of educated older women who meet romantically unsuitable men and feel a growing sense of alienation from society. She was awarded a CBE in 1990. Her debut A Start in Life was published in 1980. Her last full length book Strangers was published in 2009. She continued to write into old age and the novella At the Hairdressers was published as an ebook in 2011. She never married and took care of her parents as they aged. Elen Curran, archivist
Marriage at Cana similarly draws on biblical themes. But just look at the slices of water melon, the little pops of colour in an otherwise beautifully muted, but intense palette. Enjoy hours of fun looking for the faces of Winifred and her sisters, Joyce and Eileen. In fact, there’s lots of autobiographical content to be discovered both in the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue. Check out her fashion statements – this is a charismatic woman with attitude. Winifred was a ground-breaker. Here is a hugely talented local artist. Winifred was a Streatham girl. According to Sacha, she loved to amble on Streatham Common which boasted a
20 To Read & So... rich profusion of ‘wild flowers, grasses, ferns, mosses and algae’ as well as a wide variety of trees. She may well have uncovered her passion for beauty and nature as a pupil studying with Dr Lillian Clarke at JAGS. A Board of Education report in 1915 notes the special feature of the school was the teaching of Botany by the science mistress, Dr Clarke, who developed botanical gardens in the grounds to serve as outdoor laboratories. We know them as the old order beds, where plants were studied in family groups. There were a series of beds reproducing British habitats including a salt marsh and a pebble beach. No wonder we have amongst our own small archive of Winifred Knights drawings detailed sketches of anemones, blossom, berries, branches and trees. We opened our collection, kindly donated to the school by her son, John Monnington, in an Open House exhibition during Dulwich Festival; visitors from the local community were equally charmed by the drawings of trees and nature, life portraits and studies of birds, alongside finished works such as Artist’s Mother and the exquisitely tiny notebook of the young Winifred with thoughts and ideas about the world around her.
Well done to Winifred’s visionary parents who recognised the prodigious early talent of their daughter and sought a place for her at JAGS, then a 45 minute journey by foot and steam train. Even then the Board of Education noted the high level of seriousness in the teaching of art at JAGS and ‘the excellent opportunities the building affords for study of interiors and for
demonstration of perspective principles’. The young Winifred must have soaked it up. Go to see the exhibition. Take in the fine, delicate lines and strength of purpose. Remember that she was a celebrated artist in her day and help us to ensure that, having been found again, she never slips back into obscurity. We have a Winifred Knights scholarship awarded in the sixth form each year. In splendid quirk of fate, a former recipient, Phoebe Newman, worked with the curator on the exhibition for the gallery. Sacha Llewellyn has given an assembly to the current senior school. Current pupils and staff may visit the DPG exhibition for free, with identification. Check the DPG website for details. In September buy tickets for dance piece, Exodus, with professional choreography inspired by The Deluge. Buy bespoke dresses, hats and sunglasses inspired by Winifred’s designs. Whatever you do, don’t miss it.
Celebrating 50 years on Eleanor Price née Harvey
Ann Thornton née Jordan
I remember in the Sixth form a year of English for Scientists reading exciting new books, History of Art, ‘Youth and Music’ introducing us to opera and enabling us to see Fonteyn and Nureyev.
Memories of my years at JAGS include the musical activities (developed my love for singing in choirs and playing piano), and athletic activities including all age groups.
I remember assemblies: girls fainting when we knelt for prayers, singing ‘God be in my Head’. My favourite place & favourite season: all of it; I loved school! My working life in short: I’ve spent 40 years teaching and organising secondary school maths. I’m now tutoring, and working as a principal examiner writing GCSE maths papers. In short: championing the needs of the mathematically challenged. I’m most proud of running a weekly Traidcraft stall for 25 years.
Noticed the amazing wall of street art bordering Green Dale? We are thrilled that street artist Lucy McLauchlan has created a stunning interpretation inspired by The Deluge, a brilliant and very public way to celebrate a JAGS girl. A woman artist celebrating a woman artist, speaking up for the JAGS and wider community. Former parent Ingrid Beazley is the inspiration behind this latest contribution to the street art in Dulwich Village and East Dulwich.
JAGS taught us to have confidence in ourselves, to be self-reliant and to care for others. My motto would be to be true to yourself. Ginny Jones née Davies I remember delicious sticky buns on Founder's Day - so much nicer than school dinners, playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the orchestra playing Scipio frequently in assembly as that's what we played best and visiting old ladies at the UGS. And I remember sometimes challenging authority! As an adult I'm proud to have used my rebellious streak to support people to stand up for their rights and to challenge injustice and bullying in whatever form. As a Family Support Worker and as a teacher I've spent my working life supporting vulnerable families to achieve happier lives. I'm especially proud that my intervention resulted in a child in the care of the local authority being returned to his parents. That child is now completing his university degree.
I broke into a “man’s world” after graduating university, joining a large accounting firm as the only female articled clerk out of 100 entrants. My goal was to make partner, and some years later I did – it took a transfer to USA, support from my husband, and extra years because of biases against women with children (the firm now emphasizes development of women). JAGS encouraged me to “Be all you can be”. Sarah Puszet née Andrews My father died during my last year at school and I was allowed to finish schooling gratis for which act I will always be indebted to JAGS. Lindy Gabrielle Armstrong I remember enjoying winning the obstacle race on sports day and being in the gym demonstration and Miss Leiper’s dismay at me leaving at 16 to go to ballet school. My favourite place & favourite season was summer and the grounds My working life in short: a vocation, not a job, a virus you never shed, a highly enjoyable, rewarding career. I’m most proud of setting up my own, highly successful ballet school in Dulwich, also teaching at all the private prep schools in and around the area, running it for 28 years, entering hundreds of children for Royal Academy ballet exams with excellent results, and producing professional dancers and teachers of today. If the school had a motto, it should concern producing diligence, confidence and capability.
22 To Read & So... Alison Balaam née Haile
Jacqui Brookes OBE née Harrington
I spent my whole school life at JAGS, starting in Lower Kindergarten with 9 contemporaries under the watchful eye of Mrs Pickford. One highlight of my early years was being one of the four children in the school's production of Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride. I had to run on to the stage shouting "The bear's coming!” My working life in short has been busy, varied and isn't over yet, as I'm still working part-time as a counsellor. I am privileged to have three wonderful children with amazing partners and 8 equally-amazing grandchildren.
At JAGS I enjoyed History and British Constitution lessons with Mrs Grisbrooke, although I took an Industrial Chemistry degree at City and worked in industry and the civil service. After a break to have 2 daughters, I eventually joined a telecoms trade association, (using my government and industry experience and being a rare female in a mostly male world) becoming its CEO and gaining an OBE for services to the communications industry in 2007. I enjoyed working with MPs, civil servants and Ministers to achieve legislation to curb telecoms fraud. I am now retired!
Mary Francis CBE née George I remember learning to dig ‘my’ garden aged 8 or 9, assemblies on the first and last days of term, all our teachers. My favourite place was the bluebell wood. My working life in short: varied, hard work and always absorbing! It’s spanned government, the City, and now some plc boards. I’m most proud of getting into Cambridge to read history. If the school had a motto it should be something about excellence and inclusivity. I’m nostalgic about the JAGS whose intake was 50% scholarship girls.
Alex Palmer née Newman I was a Kent scholar and travelled by train, so my friends became and remain Eleanor Harvey and Mary George. My highlight at JAGS was acting as the Sorcerer's Apprentice. I played in the orchestra and sang. I won a conducting competition in London with a choir I had trained to sing Bach. Miss Leiper's last report said 'Alexandra should not dissipate her energies.' I still do. I played the solo flute in Bach's 5th Brandenburg in Chichester Cathedral recently, exhibited my paintings in the Art trail and I continue to write short stories and run a local Writer's Circle. JAGS made me resilient, resourceful and individual.
Jane Courtney née Barham
Fiona Mynors née Reindorp
I remember being in The Bartered Bride, loving the singing. Music lessons with Mrs Canon.
I remember trying not to change my shoes for break when it seemed quite unnecessary! French vocab tests each week (I was only at JAGS for 2 years before I had to leave as my father’s work place changed). I enjoyed playing in the woods.
My favourite season & favourite place was summer and the grass tennis courts, which unfortunately no longer exist. My working life in short: I became a physiotherapist working with people who have long term disabilities and helping them to lead an active and healthy life style within their capabilities. I’m most proud of playing squash for Great Britain (and of course having 2 children and 5 grandchildren) If the school had a motto, it should be: Strive to do your best through learning with laughter and kindness.
My working life in short: I greatly enjoyed teaching and now governing and doing consultancy in schools. I am most proud of providing a strong role model for my 3 daughters so that they have all become teachers as well as having families. (I could say surviving 3 teenage daughters!) If the school had a motto it should be: never say can’t, but I’ll try. Angela Vernon-Kell née Kane
Jenny Tyte née Whiddett One of my favourite memories of JAGS was the thrill of learning German. I was able to put it to good use, when I spent two years teaching in Stuttgart. I also loved the opportunities to see opera and ballet through “Youth and Music”. Summer was my favourite season, with the wearing of boaters, and especially Founder’s Day and the cornflower buttonholes. Having been awarded the then new Bachelor of Education degree in 1970, I spent nearly 40 years teaching, first infants, then teenage boys, and loved every minute of it. Annabel Pendlebury née Sturges Annabel’s two passions at JAGS were music, (singing in the choir and playing the cello) and botany, a lifelong interest inspired by the energetic enthusiasm of Dr Peach. After reading Botany at Royal Holloway College and Environmental Conservation Studies at University College, London, she had a fulfilling career lecturing in environmental planning and management at Middlesex University. On retirement, she moved to the Isle of Skye with her husband, Chris, and continued with her two original passions, chairing the local environment group and singing in the local choir.
I remember break time, wandering with friends through the wood and the playing fields. Petticoat inspections. Four of us juniors appearing in The Bartered Bride with the Seniors. My working life in short: I was not ambitious, but had surprising success in the world of computers. I’m proud to have taken time out to study apparel and pattern cutting at Art School as a mature student, fulfilling a long held passion. JAGS nurtures freedom of thought, independence, confidence. My advice to JAGS leavers would be to treasure and utilise all your skills. I have three wonderfully creative sons. I now have success running a business online using just about everything I have learnt over my lifetime and have no plans to retire.
Sadly Annabel died in April 2014 after a brave battle with oesophageal cancer.
Shaping the Future
Legators’ and Alumnae Event
James Allen’s Girls’ School Banker’s Standing Order Form
Sparkling English Tea Thursday 15 September 3pm, JAGS followed by a private tour at 5pm of the Winifred Knights exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery with Ian Dejardin, Director
To The Manager:
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Joint Evensong with Dulwich College Monday 10 October at 5pm, St Paul’s Cathedral followed by drinks in a local wine bar
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❈ Senior School Production Tristan & Iseulte Wednesday 30 November, Thursday 1 and Friday 2 December 7.30pm, JAGS
❈ Legators’ Event
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JAGS Christmas Concert
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Shaping the Future
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