Deputy Head at Comberton Village College
1968 - 1992
IT IS WITH GREAT SADNESS that Comberton Village College has learned of the recent passing of Barbara Dennis, known affectionately to staff as BD. Barbara had an outstanding career at Comberton and she is someone whose dedication, talent and professionalism helped lay the foundations which have enabled the school to evolve. There are staff still here who owe their perceptions of the standards and values in education to her example, and we feel that Barbara's inspirational guidance and support influenced us all personally.
Barbara's kindness and pastoral care for pupils was legendary. Before expectations became formulated in statutory documents, she led the way in demonstrating how a school's ethos should be represented by every individual member of staff and she taught us how to model the behaviours we want to encourage in young people. She made it a priority to protect the needs of the most vulnerable children and her vision of a genuinely inclusive education for every single child was borne out by her insistence in focusing on their entitlement and ensuring that each received the best education that CVC could offer. Barbara was a formidable presence with immense experience in detecting errors both administrative and human. Stories abound about her Miss Marple-like capacity for solving school "crimes" .
She was at the heart of Henry Morris's ideal of a Community School. To this day she is fondly remembered by ex-pupils who work at CVC, and also by those living locally, as someone who understood how school and community should relate to each other. In a way of life where there never seems to be enough time and one is never up to date, Barbara fulfilled her obligations to the letter. Her beautiful handwriting reflected the meticulousness of someone who was never too busy to help those who asked, nor too preoccupied to notice those who were in need. She was extraordinary and it was a privilege to have known and worked with her. Just how much she cared about each individual, bothered about people and touched the lives of all of those around her, may be gathered from the typical responses of her colleagues'children: "Oh, yes, Mrs Dennis, she was lovely!"