Page 73 - OO_2018

memory are: playing catch with and then losing his wedding ring on the first-team football pitch and getting the whole team to search for it; his use of the Pinocchio growing nose gesture when he felt someone was telling a fib;
and his many one-liners in his many (and long) speeches at team dinners. Matt is patient, calm, considered,
articulate, popular, caring, decent and, importantly for the boarding school world, a true schoolmaster.
I know he has a long and strong career ahead of him, and we all wish him the greatest of success at Ardingly and beyond.
Philip Pitcher, Head of Geography
STAFF FAREWELLS
Robin Banerjee
Psychology teacher
It is early 2008, the Headmaster’s Office and Charlie Bush is interviewing an applicant for the
position of Academic Fellow. The Headmaster looks to the nervous young man sitting opposite him and says, completely deadpan: “The last time I saw you, you were wearing a pink rabbit costume.”
This was not due to the fact that both men were members of a secretive gentlemen’s club, but rather because Robin Banerjee, the said applicant, had been a volunteer for Oundle School Mencap that summer and had clearly made an impression.
During his 10 years at Oundle, Robin was involved in all manner of School activities. After his fellowship he became a permanent teacher and joined the Psychology department for eight years, four of them as Head of Department. For three years he was Deputy Housemaster of Sidney and alongside these two main roles he was SACOS chairperson, rowing coach, ski instructor, diving instructor, child protection officer, cross-country coach, commissioned officer in the CCF and adventure training. This list of activities gives only a glimpse of the areas of the School Robin touched. If he were a Cub Scout, his jumper would have run out of space on which to sew badges long ago. With each of these, he showed a deep and sincere level of commitment, involving, for example, giving up weeks of holiday to lead and accompany School trips. Fellow teachers recognised the value
of asking someone of Robin’s experience to help with the burden of leading a trip, as well as his seeming inability to say no. His support was especially valuable on the multiple Berlin trips he assisted, an endless amount of Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, ski trips, rowing camps and the Red Sea diving trips, where he carefully helped to bring on the confidence of inexperienced divers.
Robin worked with dedication for his pupils, who saw him as a kind and personable teacher. Although teaching the whole range of abilities, including the first Oundelian to be offered a place at Oxbridge to read
Psychology, he was particularly strong at bringing on pupils who found academic life difficult, whether it be through lack of ability or of focus. Time spent with such pupils in gentle encouragement, often accompanied by humour, brought many on to achieve more than they had previously managed. This approach was reflected in his tutoring style, which was sincere and genuine. He established strong relationships with tutees over the years and kept in touch with many once they left. His sense of duty was exemplified by an occasion in Sidney when sickness had meant that many of the dining-room staff had not arrived at work, with the result that at 7.30pm the pot-wash room was filled with the supper detritus from all of the boys of Sidney and Grafton, and no one to wash it. Robin, together with Stuart Clayton, manfully reached for the marigolds and two hours later every plate, mug, bowl, spoon, knife and fork was sparkling like a new pin.
Robin is an Old Oundelian (L 00)
and is therefore one of a small group
of people who have seen the School
from both sides. If a school can be
best judged by the quality of the
pupils it produces, then Robin is a
superb advertisement and this is
perhaps illustrated best by his
continued role in Oundle School
Mencap holidays. Robin first joined
as a volunteer during his Fifth Form
and has returned to help in each of
the 20 years since, gradually taking
on more and more responsibility, www
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018
<<<RETURN TO CONTENTS
73