On Thursday 8th October we had a charming chat with the Canterbury’s School Head mistress, Beryl Pritchard. We asked her about the past and future of the school, and she answered with great enthusiasm.
En la siguiente entrevista se le preguntó a nuestra directora a cerca del comienzo del colegio; cómo empezó todo. Ella nos cuenta su viaje hacia nuestras tierras españolas para emprender una nueva vida, y al conocer a su futuro marido a quien destinan a Gran Canaria por motivos de trabajo, ella decidió ir más allá de su actual trabajo e ir emprendiendo a más.
Beryl Pritchard nos demuestra a todos que cuando uno tiene fe en si mismo puede conseguir lo que quiere, con esfuerzo y ganas. Es un ejemplo a seguir.
A lo largo de la entrevista decidimos preguntarle a cerca de las obras que se están llevando a cabo detrás del colegio de secundaria. A lo que ella nos contesto sinceramente y sin impedimentos. Por lo que se ve, será un éxito.
How many years have you been working in the educational system?
- I’ve been a teacher since I left university which was just over fifty years ago.
Did you work as a teacher before creating the school?
- I taught for a year in England and then went to Madrid to teach at the British Council School which was in Martinez Campos in those days.
Why did you choose to create this school?
- While I was in Madrid, I met my future husband, who was in the Spanish Air force. He was transferred to the Canaries in, I think, 1971. We did not have much warning about this so I was unable to apply for a teaching post at either of the two English medium schools on the island at that time. When I arrived here in the month of July, I visited both schools but they had no vacancy. I spent one unsatisfactory year giving English lessons in a couple of places and decided I could do better myself.
Where did you get the idea for the name of the school?
- Not from anywhere in particular. I had to call the school something so I thought of all the places I had visited in England and chose one which had left a pleasant memory. Canterbury is a very old town dating back to the middle ages and full of English history. There’s a high wall surrounding the area and a pedestrian street leads down to the cathedral where the Archbishop was stabbed to death by some of the King’s knights. Many of the buildings date way back into the past and are carefully preserved. As the town, or city I suppose it should be called, is surrounded by the open countryside of Kent, it’s an attractive sight from the road as you drive towards it: Avignon in France left a similar impression on my mind.
Did someone give you the idea to create Canterbury School?
- It was around the late sixties when English Medium schools began to be popular with Spanish parents. In Madrid, Kensington and St Anne`s had just begun and Runnymede, a more adventurous project as at this time it was a Secondary School, was also in its infancy.
In the past, did you imagine at any time that you would create this school?
- What we imagine we will do when we are young can be very different from what life has in store for you. A lot depends on circumstances so never forget your Shakespeare:
‘There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune
We must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures’
However, being female perhaps Byron’s parody is closer to the truth.
‘There is a tide in the affairs of women
Which taken at the flood, leads God knows where’
Did you ever think that the school would be so popular in the island?
- Never thought about it in that way; I just wanted to make it work well
We all know that our school has students from many places around the world; did you ever imagine there would be so many students with different nationalities?
- Didn’t really think about that either, although most English medium schools outside the UK have always had pupils of many different nationalities. In some places. Strasburg, for example I would imagine the mixture of nationalities and languages is very high indeed.
Would you like to expand the school to the other islands, or other places?
- I suppose the idea of being bigger and having or doing more is part of us but I feel this is closer to the idea of greed and vanity than business enterprise but no doubt other people have different opinions. I have always been happy to cultivate my own garden and have never desired to take over the park.
You have known lots of students while you have been the principal of the school, who would you say has been the best student in the history of the Canterbury school?
- This is impossible to answer fairly unless you give a measurable definition of ‘best’. If you mean the person who has achieved the highest academic grades at University entrance level this would limit the field as our pupils did not begin to take ‘Selectividad’ or A levels till about the year 2000. In this case it would be Xu Ke who entered Cambridge this year.
If you could change something about the past, related to decisions taken for the school, would you change anything? What would you change if so?
I have never lived my life this way. Another quote ‘
The moving finger writes and having writ
Moves on: nor all they Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it
Do you think that the school could be improved in any aspects?
- Of course: everything can be improved except perfection and that only exists as a concept.
Have you ever thought about improving the school’s sport facilities by creating our own sports centre, with for example our own swimming pool?
- I think everyone should move. Most of us don’t need that much encouragement as we enjoy moving and there are plenty of opportunities on this island; a run along the beach or around the park or up the road. Those who complain that they haven’t got the facilities are probably using it as an excuse for being lazy. I’ve always found moving great fun, was sports captain at school and university and belonged to local netball teams and athletic clubs: I can still remember the thrill when Roger Banister came to train on our track: a bit like having Pau Gasol on our basketball court nowadays. Now if you look over the wall at the activity going on below - the crane, tractors, lorries and men – you will have an idea of the future. Next to the sixth form building which is going up now beside the bottom football area, there will be a very large sports pavilion with another large hall adjacent. If you move upwards in the direction of the primary building you can make out the athletics track which will have games areas inside. The whole area is very extensive with masses of possibilities for sports facilities but you should always bear in mind that sports facilities provided by a school should enable encourage and enable the largest number of children to have the possibility of moving.
Is it true that the building which is being constructed is for the future 6th form students?
- Basically yes, although perhaps some of the older pupils may use it too.
Will there be anything new, like common rooms? Will there be a library? And dining room? Could you tell us a little bit about it?
- The plans are in the hands of the architect but there will be a sixth form common area, library facilities probably mostly in the form of computer access to up to date information on many scientific and technical subjects, canteen facilities and science laboratories . Towards the end of the school year I will ask the architect to give a presentation in the theatre as by this time we will be able to see it taking shape.
Are the classrooms E1, E2 and E3 going to be removed at any time?
- As soon as we can move into the new building these will not be needed as classrooms.
When will the construction site be finished?
- The building and pavilion should definitely be ready for the 2011-2012 school year although we hope to be able to use them before then. The athletics track and new Infant building might take longer but basically everything depends on the money available and, I suppose, Fate? God? The Stars?
Ruth Zurita y Beatriz Lavin
