Barbara Hamilton, after 23 years loyal service, will be retiring from Brandeston Hall at the end of this term. Barbara is one of our longest serving members of staff and her involvement with Brandeston Hall and the children has been enthusiastic and tireless, giving generously of her time and energy in so many extra-curricular activities, in addition to her very full timetable within school.

We will be organising a Farewell Gathering and Presentation for Barbara with afternoon tea and cakes in the Rowley Hall at Brandeston Hall, on Monday, 8th December at 4pm after the Inter-house Cross Country. If you would like to attend please contact Lucy Bryanton on 01728 685331 or office@brandestonhall.co.uk

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Barbara joined the school in 1991 to run our very first Kindergarten class. Her enthusiasm for teaching was obvious from the outset. Those children are now grown up, but will remember with great fondness, her softly spoken Scottish accent and the many train trips they made to The Natural History Museum in London.

After 4 years, Pre-Prep was well established, and Barbara joined the Junior Prep Department, mainly teaching in Years 3, 4 and 5 as well the odd foray into Year 6 Mathematics and English. She was as enthusiastic as ever and one of her most memorable trips was to fly her Year 3 class to visit Scotland for the day! She also introduced residential trips for Years 4 and 5, including successful trips to the Lake District and Bath. Her love of sailing and her native Scotland led to many enjoyable sailing trips to Sport Scotland.

Barbara was promoted to Head of Junior Prep in 2000 and has been a valuable member of the Senior Leadership Team in that role and as Assistant Director of Studies. In 2001 she took on the role of Head of Girls’ Boarding in Alice Hall and many girls will have benefitted from her care and enthusiasm over her tenure.

Throughout her time at Brandeston Hall Barbara has been involved in virtually every aspect of school life. For example she helped with productions such as Peter Pan and Bugsy Malone and coached hockey, netball, rounders and athletics. She remains a huge ambassador for the creative crafts and outdoor play. She is simply a good person and will be sadly missed by children, parents and Common Room alike. However, retirement will give Barbara time to spend with her family both in England and Scotland and the chance to pursue her many craft interests and hopefully to do some more travelling.

If you would like to be involved in Barbara’s retirement collection, then please send any contributions c/o The Headmaster’s PA, cheques payable to ‘Brandeston Hall’.

Yours sincerely

Martin Myers-Allen