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Ioan was an exceptional teacher of the
traditional kind in an era when working at Oundle meant
total commitment across all dimensions of school activities, including voluntary labs, sport, field trips, tutoring, House duties, music, drama and much more, all continuing through evenings, weekends and holidays, and leaving very little time for a personal life.
Ioan set an example of leadership and commitment which was hard to match, yet always made time for supporting and encouraging pupils and colleagues alike. He often seemed tireless: on Field Day camps in the local area he was inclined to initiate a game of hide and seek. New teachers and pupils were expected to find him, often high up in a tree in the dark. The same attitude extended into the classroom. He would not give the game away and sometimes spent a whole lesson waiting for pupils to come up with an answer, rather than give them his own version.
Learning by experience and experiment were foremost in his teaching, in harmony with the philosophy of Bill Coulson, his predecessor and colleague in the Biology department. Ioan’s first love was natural history. Boarding schools
were uniquely placed to carry out long-term studies of wildlife and ecological changes in the countryside. Being a birdwatcher was a feather in your cap in Ioan’s judgement and each summer term he organised a ‘games’ option called ‘field work for non-cricketers’. He loved the story of the rather small, but very keen birdwatcher winning the senior cross- country race, because he had spent all his games time cycling and running after birds. The School’s annual Natural History Reports, The Flora of Oundle and The Oundle Bird List were among Ioan’s proudest achievements, all produced by pupils under his guidance and encouragement (now in the School Archive).
In 1961 Ioan took over as Housemaster of Sidney. His energy and conscientiousness, coupled with his generosity in giving up his time for others were of great value in this role. Sidney attracted many of the brightest pupils caught up in the ferment of pupil power in the 1960s. Ioan found this a great challenge, but was non-judgmental and dealt with pupil passions without dampening their intellectual vigour. Tolerance ended with any suggestion that an individual was picked upon and he hated dishonesty of any kind.
On Bill Coulson’s retirement in 1971, Ioan left Sidney to become Head of the Biology department.
Here he oversaw considerable changes and expansion as Biology became an ever more popular choice, with the subject evolving further from a descriptive to an experimental science. New syllabuses including Nuffield Biology were introduced, with an impressive array of new equipment and practical techniques. Among his favourites were genetic crosses using fruit flies, as these demanded very precise manipulation and recording, and yielded quantitative results. A junior lesson with the labs full of flowers, to group into families, was another classic, requiring no more than a hand lens – but you had to learn to use it properly! At interview, candidates seeking a Biology post were likely to be offered a plant specimen and a hand lens, and gained a black mark if they were not proficient in its use. He sought originality and passion in his appointees, and was prepared to take a risk in employing and training novice teachers, building up a team with a wide range of biological experience.
In 1980 Ioan returned for the Michaelmas Term in an even more ebullient mood than usual and soon revealed that he had become engaged to be married. As he pointed out, it was a whirlwind romance; they had known each other for 31 years! They were soon married, celebrated by wild Scottish country dancing in the Great Hall. Alice rapidly became fully involved in Oundle life and was the founding member of the flourishing Oundle Historical Society. Ioan himself became an instant honorary grandfather, which he greatly enjoyed.
Having spent all his working life at Oundle School, 31 years of retirement lay ahead, but Ioan made full use of the time. He would now share with Alice a growing interest in
Sidney House in 1970. Housemaster Ioan Thomas is seated in the middle
62 <<<RETURN TO CONTENTS
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2018 –2019
FEATURE
An exceptional teacher
Honorary OOs Robin Rowe and Nick Owens pay tribute to Ioan Thomas, the School’s former Head of Biology, who died in March