The Diocese of Bristol bade a sad farewell this month to its Director of Education, Jackie Waters-Dewhurst, on her appointment as Director of Education of the Diocese of Lincoln having led the department for four years through a challenging and exciting period of change.
Jackie’s successes were not only as a Director but also as a part of the Diocesan leadership team and as a colleague. Her time since arriving in 2008 saw the change of Government and what has been described as “seismic” changes in policy. As a result the Department’s work and workload significantly changed and increased as a growing number of schools consider conversion to Academy status.
Speaking at Jackie’s farewell, Bishop Mike and Ann Holt OBE, Chair of the Diocesan Board of Education (DBE), gave heartfelt and comprehensive tributes to her and her work as Director.
“We have loved having Jackie in the Diocese,” said Bishop Mike.
“We have admired her competence in the way she handled her job, but we have really loved her character; her sense of humour, her approachability and the fact that she is a person of faith.”
Those attending were also treated to an ambitious musical testament by the Department for Children and Young People (DCYP) delivered a la Gilbert and Sullivan.
Thanks to Jackie’s leadership, Bristol DBE is firmly at the national forefront of current thinking on Church schools and Academies. This year it set up the Diocese of Bristol Academies Company (DoBAC) to help some of the Diocese’s 67 Church schools through the complicated legal and practical processes and considerations of converting to Academy status. DoBAC also hopes to support schools and Academies more generally by developing alternative service provision.
This year’s report by the National Society (The Church School of the Future) warned that collective worship and religious education are increasingly side-lined as the Department for Education appears to bow to pressure from aggressive secularist lobbies. Jackie led DCYP and worked with the Board in making big strategic decisions for supporting Church and Community schools to deliver effective RE and meaningful collective worship. In particular she set up an annual programme of over twenty courses to support teachers, headteachers and governors. Yearly attendance ranges from 120+ to 250+ and 97% return feedback of ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.
Jackie is a woman of vision, energy and great humour with a wide collection of shoes. Her encouraging, dynamic presence – to which colleagues were frequently alerted by peals of laughter and the clip of heel on tile – will be greatly missed as the department continues to forge ahead. We and many more across the Diocese wish her all the best in her new role.
John Swainston, currently Partnership Adviser for the DBE, has been appointed Interim Director of Education from 1 July 2012 till the end of the year.
Find out more about the Diocese’s Department for Children and Young People >>
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