Page 10 - ES MAG 2018 dig

Meet the New Head Teacher

“Sorry for

making you wait.”

interviewed by Sophia Archontis 7Y

...Mr Lambon gives me a warm smile as I take out my notebook, and then asks me
if I want to become a journalist. I tell him no, that I nd journalism kind of boring
actually, and we both laugh...
I ask him what it feels like to live in Cyprus now. He reveals to me actions, because you are expected to know all the answers to
that he’s scheduled his rst Greek lesson for that night and hopes everything. I suppose there are days where I doubt myself a lot.
to learn the language soon, but is worried he won’t because But with a good team around me, who gives me strength, I am
everyone here is determined to speak to him only in English. motivated to do the best I can.” He looks at me. “I’m not interested
French and German are no longer foreign languages for him: in personal success. To me, success is helping a school function
he mastered the former in school and the latter in Munich, as better: making it a better and safer place for students, full of
the Director at St George's School. opportunities. A school that is in the process of continuous
improvement.”
Growing up in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and ‘80s was hard,
the conict bringing times of terrorism and violence to the country. I ask him if he would ever consider doing anything else. “I do miss
Mr Lambon tells me that he and all his friends around him grew being in the classroom and teaching young students, second
up feeling stied, like Northern Ireland was a small island they or third formers to be specic,” he replies. “I’d like to do that again
needed to escape, and most people often left to go study in at some point, perhaps in a dierent environment. Like project
08 England. “Essentially,” he says, “the people who needed to stay work in Kenya, or doing something with sports, encouraging
children to develop leadership skills.”
behind, left. And those who remained were all the same.”
So how were your childhood years? I ask him if he has any hobbies and he tells me that he is a triathlete,
I see an opportunity to interrogate. having just completed a triathlon in Larnaca over the weekend.
Somehow, it is something I do not nd surprising. “I also really
And what were you like as a student? like golf, and theater. I love learning new languages. And music,”
“Well, I really enjoyed school. As a young boy obviously there was a he continues.
conict between sports and academia, but I really enjoyed science
and math. I was an avid golfer too.” He laughs. “Although some So what’s your favorite band? I get up to leave.
teachers might like to say otherwise, I was a really determined “Sti Little Fingers,” he responds immediately.
student. I did well in my A levels, seeing them as a challenge, an
opportunity for deeper learning. We didn’t have much money
but I got a sponsorship from Shell to go study in England.” The Head Teacher, Mr David Lambon at the recent Erasmus Award Ceremony

What made you want to become a Head
Teacher? Was there any pressure from your
parents to follow the career path you did?
“My parents were both teachers, very child-centered and patient,
two fundamental qualities to have – my mother was a historian
and she always encouraged me to read. However, as a teenager,
and I think all teenagers will agree with me on this, I wanted to
stray as far away as possible from the professions of my parents.
It’s funny now that I think about where I am today but I realized
during university, through helping my friends study for exams,
that I actually really liked teaching.”

We pause for a second and I ask him if a book has ever changed his
life. He mentions one called ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’, a piece of reective
work, he says, where the author visits his old college professor
at the end of his life and asks him how to live. I note it down.
Was there a moment in your career where
you doubted yourself, or wanted to quit?
“Life as a Head Teacher can be lonely,” he says after a while. “It’s
a challenging role, and people can judge you, and criticize your