GDST Alumna of the Year Award
Thank you to everyone who made a nomination for the GDST Alumna of the Year Award 2012. We were absolutely thrilled when we heard that Putney Old Girl Aimee di Marco (PHS 1997 leaver) had been shortlisted!
Aimee, now an Academic Clinical Fellow and Specialist Registrar in Surgery at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, was last year recognised in Management Today's top 35 Women under 35 list of female high fliers for her work as part of a pioneering team at the leading edge of robotic surgery.
Aimee has also been an inspirational figure for young people wanting to go on and study medicine. She recently returned to Putney to talk to girls interested in pursuing a medical career and is also part of the Medical Entry group of doctors, committed to widening access to the profession.
In her spare time Aimee trains at the All Stars Boxing Gym and Youth Club where she is also the club's medical officer! Last year, she completed a two hour sponsored run and 81 mile fundraising bike ride to help the All Stars Club avoid facing closure.
Please help us support Putney Old Girl Aimee di Marco's nomination for the GDST Alumnae of the Year Award. Voting is easy and takes only a few seconds. Please go to http://www.gdst.net/2267/alumnae/alumna-of-the-year/2012-awards---vote-now!/ and vote for Aimee now. Voting closes on the 18th May 2012.
Miss Ruth Smith, Headmistress 1963-1978
We are extremely sad to announce the death of Miss Ruth Smith, Headmistress at Putney High School 1963-1978, who passed away recently aged 92.
Miss Smith never failed to move with the times in her fifteen and a half years as Headmistress, introducing changes and making innovations that continue to benefit the school today. It was under her leadership that the new Science Block was completed in 1973, with the old laboratories converted to provide an annexe to the library, and rooms for drama and needlework.
In 1977 the enforced move of the school from direct grant to independent status heralded a new financial endeavour: the Bursary Appeal with a target of £100,000 - launched and raised within one year. A great deal of the credit must go to Miss Smith for the hard work and the strong support she gave to the cause, so dear was it to her heart.
In spite of all the changes, Miss Smith provided the school with a background of stability, due to her quiet steadfastness, her high standards, her firmness and the personal example she set in scholarship and industry. She believed that a school’s achievement should be a continuous process of developing people’s gifts and their care and responsibility for each other and the world outside school. Her commitment to Putney and the support she gave her colleagues were immeasurable.
