The Bright White Tree

Product Information

Despite the chronic pain, Seldon retained her positive mindset. "I start each morning when I get out of bed with the words 'I am grateful' in Hebrew," she said. He was going out with her best friend and she was seeing Alex Cox, now a film director. "I'd endlessly talk to Joanna about the ups and downs I had with this girl," he remembers. "I did notice that she started getting a bit cross that I was talking about that."

Joanna’s death leaves a hole in the lives of all who knew her, especially those who saw the immense courage and unfailing dignity with which she battled the illness that blighted, but never spoiled, her last few years at College. She was a true inspiration to everyone whose lives she touched, and the thoughts and prayers of the entire Wellington Community are with Anthony, Jessica, Susannah and Adam at this time. Joanna added erudition to the school. She created the Newsome Society, through which she reminded us of the great minds amongst the teaching staff, and how they could only inspire their pupils if they were prepared to listen to and learn from each other. It is entirely appropriate that the society has been renamed the Joanna Seldon Society. In tune with her own passion, Joanna formed a pupils’ creative writing society, the fruits of which were seen in her regular South Front publication, a proper outlet for Wellington writers. Many will recall with fondness her contributions to the Week Ahead, where she penned her regular Master’s Woof column, a fresh perspective on College life seen through the eyes of her beloved Retriever, Trev. Joanna also led and celebrated the Jewish Assembly, adding to the richly diverse and tolerant nature of Wellington life that she did so much to promote. Joanna knew Wellington from many angles: wife of the Master, English teacher, Mother to Adam, who spent two years in the Lynedoch, friend and colleague. Whatever role she was called to play, there was always one constant: her own fierce independence, and from that came her intelligence, her perspective and her love. Seldon, Anthony (15 May 2012). "We need to fix Britain's character flaws". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 5 September 2013.

Seldon, Anthony; Finn, Mike (2015). The Coalition Effect, 2010–2015. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107440180. a b "Dr Anthony Seldon: Truly happy people are made, not born". The Independent. London. 13 April 2011. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022 . Retrieved 5 September 2013. RSC Annual Report 2011-12" (PDF). Royal Shakespeare Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2013 . Retrieved 5 September 2013.

Seldon's first teaching appointment was at Whitgift School in Croydon in 1983. He became head of Politics and taught in the sixth form there. In 1989 he returned to his old school, Tonbridge, and became head of History and General Studies. In 1993 he was appointed deputy headmaster and, ultimately, acting headmaster of St. Dunstan's College in London. He then became headmaster of Brighton College from September 1997 until he joined Wellington College in January 2006 as its 13th master. He became executive principal at The Wellington Academy (a separate school) in 2013. [ citation needed] Dr Joanna Seldon was a quite outstanding English teacher, who instilled a deep love of Literature amongst her pupils. She took her young charges seriously, always challenging them to reach higher, read deeper, think harder, her forensic intelligence both inspiration and guide, her warmth and kindness nourishing true learning. More importantly, she made her pupils feel they were the most important people in her life, and that is something really special for girls and boys finding their way to adulthood. This ability to focus absolutely on the people she was with allowed her to contribute so wonderfully to all walks of Wellington life in her own important role as Master’s wife. In particular, the way she nurtured the Wellington staff as well as all the pupils is worth noting, and so many things stand out. She made a point of visiting every new baby – and there were a number of those in recent years! She hosted an annual staff children’s party, an enchanted moment for families at the end of the school year, as well as ensuring an unfailingly generous welcome at the hundreds of events held each year at the Lodge. That she allowed her home to be home to so many lent real warmth to the heart of the College.

My wife’s last tribute

Former pupils invited to help school celebrate centenary". Edenbridge Chronicle . Retrieved 5 July 2020. Anthony Seldon, David Walsh (2013). Public Schools and the Great War. Pen & Sword Military. p.320. ISBN 978-1781593080. He is the deputy chair and instigator of the Times Education Commission, former chair of the Comment Awards, president of the International Positive Education Network (IPEN), chair of the National Archives Trust and he was the originator of the Via Sacra/Western Front Way Walk. His latest project is for Joanna. After her diagnosis she decided to write a biography of her late father, Dr Maurice Pappworth. She wanted it to be published this year to mark the 50th anniversary of his campaign to stop medical experiments on humans, and now Anthony is overseeing the final edits and publication, which is scheduled for this autumn. Clarence-Smith, Louisa (17 February 2023). "Epsom College appoints Sir Anthony Seldon as new headteacher after Emma Pattison tragedy". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 18 February 2023. Sir Anthony married Sarah Sayer, a former French teacher at Wellington College, last year.

It took two proposals for her to agree to marry him. He first broached the question by Cleopatra's needle in summer 1980. "She didn't reply, and I still don't know whether she didn't want to say yes or didn't hear me. It wasn't until Christmas Eve that year, after a carol service in St Albans, that I proposed again. Two swans went past and she said that swans mate for life." Folded on to a yellow sofa in his office at the university, prints by Klee and Matisse on the walls, Anthony is a neat figure who stands on his head every morning as part of his yoga practice. Brilliant, Jewish, already an outsider, Pappworth was recognised as the best medical teacher in the country. But convinced that the reason for these experiments being carried out was purely to advance the careers of ambitious practitioners, Pappworth had to speak up. Seldon has promoted well-being or happiness classes, which he introduced at Wellington College in 2006, [43] and campaigned for a holistic, personalised approach to education rather than what he calls "factory schools". [37] [44] He is a proponent of the Harkness table teaching approach used in the US [45] and the ' Middle Years' approach of the IB, [46] as well a more international approach to education, including a focus on modern languages teaching [47] [48] and setting up sister schools in China. [49] On Friday 17 February 2023, he was announced as the interim head of Epsom College, beginning in March 2023, following the death of the previous head, Emma Pattison. [50] Achievements and awards [ edit ] She threw herself into her writing, one activity her illness could not take from her. She had loved running the creative writing at schools and taking the students on retreats. Suddenly, she was filling up all her spare hours tapping away on her computer and writing in her notebook.Sir Anthony said: “She had an incurable cancer for several years, enduring frequent long periods in hospital with incredible grace and courage, but eventually she could no longer prevail against it.