Housemistress - Clair Neill
Clair Neill was appointed Housemistress of West for September 2011. She has taught French, Spanish and German at the School for eight years and was the Deputy Housemistress of West between 2004 and 2007. She enjoys badminton, swimming and travelling and spends her free time playing with the two youngest members of West: Finnbar Neill, the only member of the house likely to be found carrying an inflatable dinosaur, and his sister, Cara, who often has a cloth rabbit between her teeth.
Deputy Housemistress - Helen Burns
Helen came to Cranleigh as the Learning Support coordinator in 2009, and since then has also become involved in all aspects of school life, including tutoring in South, helping out with the Duke Of Edinburgh Award Scheme, and running the Interact Club, a fund-raising group run in partnership with St Joseph’s School and Cranleigh Rotary Club. She is married to Martin, and has a son, Mark who boards in East.
Day Warden - Sophie Diamond joined West in 2009 after a PGCE at Oxford and teaches French and Spanish. She is a Lower School Tutor and coaches a Junior hockey team. She is also involved as a leader with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.
TUTORS
Mr Gordon Neill has only recently boarded the good ship West, having spent the last eight years in Cubitt, firstly as a Tutor and then as a Deputy Housemaster. He was educated at Bangor Grammar School, in Northern Ireland, and then pottered around various universities, cheerfully snapping up unconsidered trifles and claiming them as degrees. He is an aficionado of the novels of P. G. Wodehouse, Tobias Smollett and Dorothy L. Sayers, the poetry of John Dryden and W. B. Yeats and the plays of R. B. Sheridan and Harold Pinter. He enjoys most sports, particularly rugby and cricket, and is often to be found a) playing with his two small children, Finnbar and Cara and b) wearing tweed.
Dr Simon Young has now been teaching Biology and Geology at Cranleigh for eighteen years during which time he has served as Day Warden, Deputy Housemaster and Assistant Master of Scholars. His other main roles are as Head of Outdoor Education and OC of the CCF. He is married to Andrea who works as Matron in Cubitt. They have four children, three of which are currently at Cranleigh (in Loveday and South). Apart from outdoorsy things such as climbing and mountaineering, his interests include cooking, classical music and reading. He also tries to keep up to date with aspects of his original research area in Palaeontology.
Miss Rachel Nicholson is a West Tutor in addition to her many other responsibilities as Head of French & Italian, Teacher of German, Assistant Head of Careers, and hockey coach. Having previously lived and worked in Paris for over eight years, including seven years as a marketing consultant within the food & drink industry, she finally saw the light and moved back to the UK to become a teacher. She came from a teaching background; she grew up at Milton Abbey in Dorset where her father was a housemaster and Maths teacher, so teaching has always been in her blood.
Miss Sarah Webb is a History & Politics teacher who has also been a Tutor in West since 2009. She is a keen member of the Outdoor Education team and is involved with both the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and the CCF. She also loves sport; whether coaching hockey and netball, playing football or supporting her beloved Peterborough United.
Miss Heli Mallory has worked in the school for the past five years in both the Geography and Classics department. Having recently completed four years as Deputy Housemistress in West she is now continuing to work in the house as a LVth tutor. She coaches netball and rounders and is also involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.
Miss Nikki Lockwood was new to West in January and has felt thoroughly welcomed by staff and students alike, enjoying becoming part of the team. A teacher in the Drama department she is always available for help and encouragement with all things theatrical, and was thrilled with the enthusiasm and talent of the students during her first production, The Odyssey, in the summer term. Prior to starting at Cranleigh, Nikki worked as a Drama teacher and House Coordinator at Surbiton High School for girls, so brings with her much experience of tutoring young women.
Mrs Liz Jenkins is new to West and to the school in 2011. Following a career in international mail, two children now aged 15 and 17, and a PGCE in London she is looking forward to a new career in teaching (something she has always wanted to do). She will be teaching Religious Studies, tutoring students and getting involved in the life of West house.
Mrs Wendy Yates is head of Ceramics and Glass and has bought a creative aspect to West House running various craft workshops in the evenings and weekends. She looks after LVI and UVI Tutees and has an open door policy in her studio in the Rhodes block.
Dr Sue Kemp teaches Chemistry as well as coaching netball and rounders. Her scientific expertise is in demand during prep on her duty nights to help with tricky equations
Miss Ellie Mackay is an OC, having left South House in 2004. Taking a Gap Year after leaving Cranleigh, she set up and ran a marine conservation charity in Tobago. She returned to the UK to study Natural Sciences at Pembroke College, Cambridge, specialising in Evolutionary Palaeobiology and Environmental Biogeoscience. After graduating, she enjoyed a year in the television industry working as a producer at Sky News, a highlight of which was covering the election of President Obama. Clearly she had far too much fun here as a student as she returned to Cranleigh in 2009 to teach Biology. She was delighted to become a member of West as she now has fond memories and loyalty to both the girls' houses! She currently teaches Biology and Critical Thinking, coaches badminton, leads Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh groups, and runs the School's media club.
Mrs Uta Yardley is Head of German and Head of Badminton. She is also involved with riding.
MATRONS
Ms Carol Casson and Mrs Isabel Parker are both core figures in the life of West, providing good humour, kindness, an understanding ear and delicious cookies in equal abundance. Their room is regularly the hub of evening activity, and the daily running of the House would suffer greatly without them. |
Visitors & Prospectus 
West House can accommodate 100 girls and our aim is to make the boarders and day girls feel as one. With this in mind most of the rooms house both, starting in the IVth Form and LVth with rooms of four. In the UVth they move into double rooms and in the VIth Form all girls have their own room, most of which have their own sink and vanity unit. Our policy is to allocate rooms for all junior girls, as we feel that this encourages wider integration and a strong sense of House unity, and we change the combination of girls in the rooms each term. Girls bring their own duvet covers, which add colour and vibrancy to their rooms, as does the array of photos of family, friends and pets that adorns their walls and bed units!