Boarding Houses: Nugent
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Nugent House Staff

Jayne Duckett - Housemistress
Jayne arrived at Stowe in September 2005 as Head of Girls' Games following Stowe's move into full co-education. An ex-Great Britain and Scotland International Lacrosse player, Jayne comes to us from Millfield School where she had been teaching PE and coaching Netball, Lacrosse and Tennis for seven years. The desire to run a Boarding House became apparent from the very first interview and when Bette Fox decided to retire this opened the way for her to fulfill her dreams. Jayne moved into Nugent in the summer of 2006 with her husband Graham and three children, Emma, Ben and Megan. As a family they are all sports mad, although Music and Theatre come a very close second - between them they play the saxophone, percussion, drums, guitar and piano. Graham is also a manic Beatles fan! They are all excited about the move into Nugent and Ben in particular has told all his friends that he now has a rugby pitch in his front garden!

Di Olivier - Matron
Di joined us as Matron in September 2006. She has previously been working as Matron at Thornton College in Milton Keynes where she was in charge of girls in year 10 and 11. Di is South African, but has been living and working in England since 2001, and has two grown up daughters in their twenties who both still live back in South Africa. Di was originally a swimming Teacher and started her own School teaching the children who lived in the area surrounding their family farm in Natal.

Elizabeth Chare - Under-Housemistress & 6th Form Tutor
Elizabeth studied for her BA at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, then completed her D. Phil (Evolution of RNA viruses) at Linacre College, Oxford. She joined Stowe in September 2006 and teaches Chemistry and Biology, becoming Under-Housemistress in September 2007. Elizabeth previously taught undergraduate students at Oxford and tutored on several revision courses. Elizabeth has also worked for Oxford University in undergraduate admissions for Medicine and has worked as a part-time consultant for the medical division of the engineering company. Elizabeth's other interests include music and sailing, she is also a licensed skydiver.

Sally Akam - 6th Form Tutor
Sally has worked at Stowe since 1987. She had been Head of Geography and is now Senior Tutor. She has been attached to Nugent throughout her time at Stowe including an early spell as Under-Housemistress. She is married to Rory, Head of Biology, and has two young sons.

Nick Bayley - 6th Form Tutor
Nick worked professionally as an actor in rep and the West End for eight years before turning to teaching drama. He has taught in several schools and now lives locally with his wife Zoe and his three children, Grace, Elliott and Lily. He is an examiner for the WJEC Theatre Studies A2 examination, which is the syllabus we follow at Stowe. Nick is interested in walking, cycling, football and in British progressive rock music.

Laura Campbell - 6th Form Tutor
Laura first came over to England from America to pursue a Master's Degree at The Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford and fell in love with the place. She has lived here for almost 20 years. Laura specialises in painting and printmaking and was previously Head of Department at St Helen's and St Katherine's, Abingdon.

Simon Dobson - 6th Form Tutor
Simon previously taught at a mixed comprehensive school in Milton Keynes before joining Stowe in September 2005. He teaches French and Spanish and is involved with racquet sports at Stowe. Simon has been attached to Nugent House since his arrival. He lives in Buckingham with his wife, Alicia and his three children, Samuel, Eloise and Joseph. Apart from racquet sports, Simon has a penchant for fast cars (or at least he would have if finances permitted), and he hopes to return in the not too distant future to Le Mans to watch the 24 hour race. Also, he entertains delusions of being able to play the electric guitar and one day would love to be in a band.

Francine Smith - 6th Form Tutor
Francine joined Stowe as Head of Politics and a Tutor in Chatham, she now joins Nugent. She also teaches Economics and hopes to get a Politics / Economics society up and running in School. She has taught for 6 years and previously worked in London for a merchant bank and a telecommunications company.

Lydia Ogilvie - 6th Form Tutor
(photo to follow)
Lydia studied Chemistry at Merton College, Oxford and joined Stowe in September 2007. Attached to Nugent, she is also involved in coaching rowing. Her other interests include kickboxing, art and literature.

History of Nugent House

The Marquess of Buckingham married Lady Mary Nugent, the co-heir of Earl Nugent, and the family name became Nugent-Temple-Grenville. What became Walpole House was originally going to be called Nugent but, fortunately for lovers of puns, the name was still available for the 'waiting house' that some new boys entered until their preferred House had a space (new gent!).

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