Moving
on
Mick
Polley
by Steve Gray
9
Aluredian
Mick, helped as ever by Di, who set the whole
process up, and made sure that it was running
smoothly in an astonishingly short period of
time.
He has also been a most popular academic
tutor, combining this with his role as coordinator
for all Oxbridge admissions. In fact
he has had a truly multi-faceted career at
King's. His longstanding commitment to
classics, the Pheonix Society, general
knowledge, public speaking and cricket will
make his shoes hard to fill - shoes that have
pounded the main corridor with ever-increasing
pace in the last couple of administratively
demanding years, as exam boards change
syllabus yet again, and produce ever more
complex exam papers for every year group in
the school from the 4th form to 62, in
examination sessions which now occupy almost
every month of the calendar year.
We wish Mick, and Di, every possible success
and happiness in their retirement. Now, he
should be able to find more time for his
beloved Times crossword. Not that he ever
needed much more than ten minutes.
M
ick Polley joined
King's in January
1982, and taught
Latin and Greek
throughout the school
ever since as head of
classics. He quickly established a reputation
for being a teacher of the highest academic
standing, a true scholar with a real love of
learning.
In 1994 Mick and Di became housemaster and
housemistress of Carpenter house when it first
became a girls' house. I know, because my
eldest daughter was one of the first members of
that house, that generations of King's girls look
back on their time in Carpenter with great
affection, and are deeply grateful for the energy,
kindness and care that Mick and Di put into
running their house.
Uncomplainingly he also took on the roles of
administrative master and examinations officer
- he was an obvious choice, for Mick is one of
the most highly-organised, efficient people you
will ever meet. When we took the decision last
year to produce all our reporting to parents
through an administrative database, it was