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ALUMNI
Kelly Davey
Years 7 – 11 & IB
1994 – 2001
My time at the CTC started as a
student in September 1994 and
is still continuing now as I have
also been a teacher here for the
last 6 years. I remember being
very nervous but also excited
on my first day back in 1994. I
was nervous because not many
friends from my primary school
were going to the CTC but also
excited because I thought the
school building was huge with
lots of equipment and facilities.
I very soon realised that there
were lots of opportunities and
exciting things happening at the
CTC that were not happening
in other schools – my friends
were jealous of our enrichment
programme and all of the ICT
facilities that we had. It wasn’t
a lot compared to the fantastic
range of facilities that we have
now, but we were certainly ahead
of the times in comparison with
other schools. Just the fact that
we had our own college ID cards
Liam Kelly (13 Smail) proudly
provided Troop Aid with a
cheque for over £2000 following
the Uniform Services fundraising
efforts in the summer as featured
in the last edition. Here, Liam
assesses the impact.
On the 6th of June 2010 the
Uniform Services group took
part in an event to raise money
for a local charity called TROOP
Past students make are frequently in touch and as our alumni are perhaps the best advocates for the CTC. Indeed, many
enjoyed their schooling so much that they have returned to teach at the CTC. Here we tell their stories and see how
schooling at the CTC has helped them become teachers.
was a bit of a novelty and made
you feel all grown up!
I always liked the fact that
were treated as a young adults
from day one at the CTC – it
really helped to instil a sense
of responsibility in all of the
students and we had a real sense
of pride in our learning and the
school itself.
Although I had been into music
since a very young age, I had
lots of new opportunities to
develop my skills as a musician
during my time at CTC. In the
first few years I joined the college
band starting with playing the
metallophone and moving onto
playing the piano and clarinet.
I remember sitting at the back
of college band rehearsals with
Miss Jones, with me playing the
metallophone and Miss Jones
playing her guitar! I tried out
playing a few other instruments,
including the trumpet and the
saxophone but I soon discovered
that I enjoyed composing my
own music a lot more than
performing!
I particularly enjoyed composing
Christmas carols. The first
Christmas carol that I composed
was called ‘Christmas Morn’
which I composed in my last year
at primary school (Mapledene
Junior School). The head
teacher asked if the school
could officially rename the song
as the ‘Mapledene Carol’ and
to this day they still sing ‘The
Mapledene Carol’ every year – I
was delighted to be able to take
the CTC Choir to Mapledene
Primary School last year and
they sang the carol along with
the Mapledene pupils. At the
AID. This charity raises money
for soldiers in Afghanistan and
supplies the injured ones with
grab bags. These grab bags
include essentials for the injured
soldiers until they reach the
Queen Elizabeth hospital. These
bags make a huge difference
because without them soldiers
would only have a pair of boxers
and a towel.
After months of preparation we
finally started and finished the
event by doing a 24 hour relay
run with a stretcher. We ran the
CTC I also composed a carol each
year which was performed at the
annual carol service at Birmingham
Cathedral, usually sung by the CTC
choir. The carol service still to this
day one of my favourite events
of the whole school year! I also
composed some pieces for the
college band including a piece of
music inspired by music from the
Star Trek films which I remember
being performed at one of our
concerts (yes indeed, I was that
geek at school and still am today!).
By the time I finished my GCSEs
I definitely knew that I wanted a
career in music but I had really
enjoyed studying a range of
subjects in years 10 and 11. I didn’t
want to study A Levels as I felt
this would narrow the number
of subjects that I could study,
therefore studying the IB at post-16
was ideal for me.
I thoroughly enjoyed studying on
the IB course – it wasn’t easy but
it certainly prepared me well for
university and I was able to take
on a few new subjects that I had
never studied before including
Psychology and Japanese and
Theory of Knowledge (I have
very fond memories of Theory of
Knowledge lectures with Barry
Reece and his ability to go off
on random but very interesting
tangents!).
Music continued to be my main
focus and I then moved on to
study Music Composition at
Coventry University. In 2002, I
was commissioned by the BBC
to compose music for a Radio 4
documentary about the first year
commemoration of September
11th. This was a fantastic
opportunity to finally compose
equivalent of 6 marathons and
raised over £2,000 in total.
I was proud of myself and my
group for raising this amount
of money for Troop Aid and
knowing it will help out our
injured soldiers
means a lot to us
all. Also I would like
to thank everyone
involved in the
run as well as Alan
and Pam Sutton
for giving us the
opportunity to
music for the media (composing
for TV and film has been a life
long ambition!) and it was very
strange to hear my own music
coming from the radio. When
the BBC sent me my payment I
didn’t cash the cheque for about
6 months – I was too amazed to
have a cheque with the official
BBC logo written on it stuck on
my noticeboard!
My time spent at the CTC as
a student was certainly a big
factor in me deciding to pursue
a career in teaching. When I left
university I enrolled straight onto
a PGCE course for music teaching
and I felt incredibly lucky when
I got my job at the CTC. I had
experienced working in a few
other schools during my PGCE
course, but I knew that the CTC
was exactly the kind of place that
I wanted to be part of, but this
time as a teacher.
The number of teachers here
who are also fellow ex-students
is a demonstration of just how
much we got out of the CTC
when we were students here.
I doubt you will find another
school in the country that has as
many ex-students now teaching
as we do! It’s both strange but
also a privilege to be working
with members of staff who were
once my own teachers - Mr
Walton and Mr Bowers included
who were my form tutors in year
11!
Both my brother and sister (Ryan
and Becky Davey) have also been
students at the CTC and so for
the last 16 years there has always
been a Davey here – I hope this
will be the case for a few more
years yet!
show our appreciation of the job
our brave soldiers are doing. We
hope to get more opportunities
to raise more money for Troop
Aid in the future.
InsideOut December 2010
15