OBITUARY – The Holly Leaf (June 46)

Mr. John Head who died in September 1945 was a member of staff at the Sheffield Pupil Teacher Centre from 1899 to 1937.

With the passing of John Head last September another link was broken between the Sheffield Pupil Teacher Centre and the present City Grammar School. When a new staff was being formed for the Centre in 1899 he was one of the first to be appointed, and through the many changes the School underwent until his retirement at the end of 1937, he retained his position. His was a major influence in building up the traditions of the School of which he was always proud.
 

He was pre-eminently a teacher. He loved his work and he did it very efficiently. His chief pride was not in the brilliant students who brought honours to the School (although he always rejoiced in their success), but in the boys and girls who, with little mathematical ability, under his careful and patient teaching succeeded in passing the examinations necessary for their career.
 

In the early days, when all the pupils were preparing for the teaching profession, he always kept that fact well in mind. He not only used excellent methods, but frequently turned aside to call the attention of the budding teachers who were already practising their art in the schools of the city, to the various methods that could be employed. Hundreds of teachers now at work all over the country owes much of their knowledge of the best ways to train children in arithmetic and mathematics to John Head.
 

He believed in, and practised, strict discipline; but if a student was in any kind of trouble and turned to him, he always listened sympathetically and gave any help and advice that he possibly could.
 

As a colleague he was loyal and stimulating. He had opinions which he held firmly, and many were the warm arguments in the Staff Room, but they held firmly, and many were the warm arguments in the Staff Room, but they were never acrimonious and he always retained the affection and esteem of us all.
 

No account of John Head's interests would be complete without a reference to his love of gardening. When he had the oversight of the playing field at High Storrs, it was beautifully kept and was a model for all such fields in the district. Those who used it will remember the charm of the flower beds in front of the pavilion. His advice and help to any of the staff or students who were interested in gardening was invaluable.
 

Whenever there was a special function at the School, even after his retirement, he always brought sheaves of his own beautiful flowers to adorn the place.
 

He has gone from us, but he has the greatest reward a teacher can have; he still lives in the affection and memory of hundreds of former pupils who remember with gratitude what John Head did for them

L. C. Dudley.

Mr. John Head retired in 1936 - ARTICLE