Few workplaces can boast the number of family connections amongst its staff that Radley can and this sense of community is often cited as one of the things that makes Radley the special place it is.

Roger and Simona Shaw recently celebrated 20 years of service to the College, although Roger has an extra few years to add to that, having first joined in 1992. Roger and Simona were kind enough to share with me their perspective on 20+ years at Radley.

Roger: I came to Radley straight from university where I read Maths at Corpus Christi College, Oxford followed by a PGCE. I was interviewed by Garry Wiseman – so not much has changed there! I recall one of his questions. He showed me two textbooks, one with pretty pictures and one with dense pages of maths questions, and asked me which I would prefer to teach from. I chose the latter, and given that it said “by G Wiseman” on the front, I think that was the right answer.

After the end of my first year, I moved into F Social as the resident Sub-Tutor. I can thoroughly recommend this role to any don. You really get to know how the boys tick when living in a Social. In those days Cocoa meant cocoa. It was made by the boys in my flat each Tuesday evening and every Wednesday morning there was a fine sprinkling of cocoa power over the entire kitchen.

Simona: I was born in a small town called Moreni which is about an hour and a half’s drive North West of Bucharest in Romania. In 1995 I was the interpreter for group of students who were organising an English language holiday camp for Romanian children. The students were a group of Radleians and the camp had been organised by Steve Rathbone and Roger was one of the teachers helping out.

We kept in touch by letter. The following year Roger had taken over the Romania project and we met again and started a rather long-distance relationship.

R: We got married in 1999, 25 years ago this summer. We wanted to be able to celebrate the wedding with all of our friends and family so we made it a three-part occasion. We had a legal wedding in Abingdon to get the paperwork out of the way. In fact, I think I taught period 1 and then went off to get married during period 2 (with GW’s permission)!

S: We then travelled to Romania in the summer for the wedding in an Orthodox church in Vârfuri, a small, remote village where my grandparents lived. In Romania wedding services are long and full of symbolism. They start with an engagement service where the couple exchange rings. Then, in the wedding service they exchange crowns to represent Adam and Eve as king and queen of creation. We wrote dual language service sheets so that Roger’s friends and family could understand what was happening. The priest could not speak English but occasionally would switch to the English side to have a go!

We were really keen to involve our UK family and friends in our celebrations, so we also had a blessing service in Radley’s Chapel. Roger wrote the service and David Coulton, the then-Chaplain, officiated.

Roger had been appointed Head of Maths at The King’s School, Chester, so shortly after our wedding we moved to our first ‘own’ house in Chester. We had Andrew in 2002 and Jamie in 2005, so life was pretty busy for a time!

R: A few years later, Garry invited me to a Heads of Maths meeting hosted by Radley and he and I ended up chatting in Common Room about potential opportunities if I was to return. I met with Angus McPhail, who had been appointed Warden during my time away, and he offered me a job. Since my return as well as teaching maths, I have been Head of Exams, Tutor of C Social, Head of Community Partnerships, Editor of the Radley Newsletter and The Radleian, Head of Science, Timetabler and Senior Master. I also helped to write a previous version of the school database.

S: Whilst in Chester I worked as a translator and interpreter for a project in collaboration with the Romanian Ministry of Justice. By an amazing coincidence my boss was also called Roger Shaw but there was no relation!

Over the years here at Radley, I’ve worked as an Exam Invigilator and Assistant Librarian. I started working in the library in 2004 on a part-time basis. For me, working in the library means I interact with the boys and help support them, especially during exam times. I enjoy running the the Languages Café too – this is an informal chance for boys with English as an Additional Language to practise conversational language skills.

R: My role at the moment as Deputy Head (Systems) means I focus on overseeing things like the timetable, College databases and ICT systems, data analysis, staff induction, policies, and inspection preparation. I also inspect other schools for the Independent Schools Inspectorate twice a year. I think it is helpful to Radley, but it is also really interesting for me. There are many diverse schools, all trying to achieve similar aims but often in different ways. Although we are only there for three days, it is so intense that you really manage to get a feel for the school in that time.

S: The thing I have valued most about Radley is the community. It has been a wonderful place to bring up two children, in a safe environment with so much going on. Andrew and Jamie were Radley Choristers and Sam Gladstone and his predecessor, Stephen Clarke were both amazing at bringing out musical talent in them as young children. Andrew recently graduated from Edinburgh with a degree in Maths and Music and is due to start his PGCE shortly. He’s planning to teach maths, so it’s lovely to see him following the family tradition!

R: In the holidays one of my favourite hobbies is cycling. I have no interest in competing against other people, but I do enjoy challenging myself. Last summer Andrew and I cycled the 2400km from Radley to Romania which was an amazing adventure and raised money for the British Red Cross. My next personal challenge is to complete the coast of Great Britain. The way I am measuring it the coastline is 8000km long and I have completed 90% so far. (Actually, arguably the coastline is infinite, but this is probably not the right place to go into the fractal geometry of coastlines!)

Christmas is also a particularly special time for us at Radley. Andrew directed the Christmas nativity play for children of staff for a few years. And we host drinks in Mansion on Christmas morning after the service in Chapel to which all staff and their families are welcome.

S: We were both invited to the Long Service Celebration last term. Radley makes people feel connected in a way that makes them want to stay (or return) so it is a really lovely thing to see long service highlighted in this way.