The Salopian no. 157 - Winter 2015

8 SCHOOL NEWS
Salvete
Morgan Bird joins us as
teacher of Philosophy and
Theology from the Royal
Grammar School Guildford
where he was teacher of
Religious Studies and Head
of Young Enterprise. He
has been heavily involved in playing
rugby at a high level throughout his
school and university life and has also
coached and refereed the game. In
athletics, Morgan has been coaching
long jump and javelin. Morgan still has
a keen interest in the Arts (he has an Art
Foundation Diploma), and headed up
the Photographic Society at RGS.
Andrea Bresso is our
Hispanic Fellow for 2015-
16. Andrea has a degree
in Law and is a Junior
Associate at a law firm.
She has been working in
Argentina as a Spanish-
English translator. In her spare time, she
enjoys hockey and swimming.
Emma Davis joins us as
a new teacher of Girls’
Games. She holds a PGCE
in Physical Education
and a BA Hons in
Physical Education in the
Community from St Mary’s
University College, Twickenham. She
was previously Head of Girls’ Physical
Education & Sport and Head of House at
Bedstone College. She has participated
in hockey, netball, cross-country and
athletics to a high level and has a vast
selection of coaching qualifications in a
wide variety of sports and recreational
activities.
Sara Fletcher joins us
as part-time teacher of
Biology, from New College
Sixth Form in Wellington.
She has a BSc Dual
Honours in Neuroscience
and English Literature from
the University of Keele and completed
her PGCE at the University of Chester.
She enjoys running and competes in half
marathons regularly; she is also keen on
netball, hockey and rounders.
Patrick Graham is our
2015-16 Graduate Sports
Coach - Rowing. Patrick
was M2 Rowing Coach at
New College Oxford last
academic year. He has
rowed for ten years, representing Great
Britain v France at the age of 16. He has
a BSc in Sport, Coaching and PE from
Oxford Brookes University.
Mai Le is the new
Harvard Fellow for this
academic year. Mai has
a degree in Organismic
and Evolutionary Biology
and spent ten months in
Germany as part of the
Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange.
Mai played division 1 Varsity soccer and
for a semi-professional team whilst in
Germany. She has also been involved in
coaching soccer as well as debating,
a cappella singing and ballroom dancing.
Harry Mackridge joins
us as Head of History
from the Merchant Taylors’
School. He has a first class
MA in History from Corpus
Christi College, Cambridge.
At Merchant Taylors’
School, Harry was also Oxbridge and
Enrichment Coordinator as well as i/c
Debating, in which he led the school to
the national finals at Cambridge. He has
also been involved in coaching football
up to 1st XI level, as well as cricket with
the juniors. He was also charity fund
raising co-ordinator.
Kimberley Onions is one of our
Graduate Sports Coaches.
She has a BSc in Sport
& Exercise Science from
Heriot-Watt University. She
coaches netball and has
been involved in athletics,
running and gaelic football.
She has also been involved in charity
work and has formed a long-term
relationship with a mental health charity.
Ben Purser returns
to Shrewsbury, from
Claremont Fan Court
School in Surrey, as fulltime
teacher of Art. Ben
taught in our Art faculty
on a part-time basis from
2008-13. He has a MA in Fine Art from
the University of Wales and a PGCE
from the University of Buckingham.
He is a keen chess player and enjoys
mountaineering and football.
Lauren Walker is one of our Graduate
Sports Coaches for this academic year,
with a degree is in Sports & Exercise
Science from Manchester
Metropolitan University.
Lauren has been playing
football for Aston Villa’s
Women’s Super League
team and has been a
county tennis player and
a keen participator in athletics and
cross-country. Lauren has also been
working as a Sports Scientist at Stoke
City Football Club.
Nicholas Welch comes
to Shrewsbury as full-time
teacher of Mathematics
from the Abraham Derby
Academy. He has a BSc in
Mathematics and a PGCE
from Warwick University.
Nick was head of Key Stage 5 in his
previous post as well as the annual
Maths challenge and is keen to be
involved in Shrewsbury’s UKMT Maths
challenge. He ran the badminton club
and is an amateur astronomer. He also
enjoys playing the trumpet.
Stephen Wilderspin joins
us as Head of Football
and teacher of PE, from
Thomas Telford School
where he was Director of
Football and BTEC Sport
Programme Leader. He
has a BEd. (Hons) in Physical Education
and Geography. He was also teacher
i/c Extra-Curricular Physical Education
Programme in his last post, as well as
i/c Cricket. He is part of the England
Schools U18 International Football
Management team and has coached at
Shrewsbury Town FC.
David Wray joins us as
teacher of Chemistry. He
has a 1st class MChem from
St John’s College, Oxford,
where he completed a
Master’s project in organic
synthesis. He joins us from
the University of Manchester following
completion of a PGCE. David has
extensive experience of working as a
private tutor and he has been a Program
Assistant for Oxbridge Academic
Programs. During his time at Oxford,
David rowed, coxed and coached at the
St John’s College Boat Club. He has also
been a keen amateur boxer while at
university. He rose rapidly through the
ranks of the Air Training Corps, which
he attended up to the age of 19.