At the beginning of Long Quarter (Spring Term), we are thrilled to welcome Anna Camilleri as our new Deputy Head (Academic). In advance of her first day, we caught up with Anna to learn more about her and her professional background.
What Shaped Your Career?
I started my career as an academic, teaching at Balliol College and Christ Church in Oxford following completion of my DPhil. My research focused on Byron and his circle, with a particular emphasis on poetic genre, but my teaching ranged from Shakespeare to the present day. In 2018, I made the transition to secondary teaching at Eton College, completing my PGCE in 2020 and becoming Head of English in 2021.
My focus across my career has been on inspiring an enthusiasm for literature and a love of learning for learning’s sake. For me, the classroom should be somewhere pupils are excited to be: somewhere they feel supported but also challenged. As Sterne says of writing, teaching, when properly managed, is but another word for conversation; namely, the productive interchange of thoughts and words. I have found the emerging pedagogical emphasis on the importance of creativity particularly exciting. The research is emphatic in the part played by private reading here: engaging with storytelling is the most effective way to shape a creative mind open to innovation.
The emergence of Generative AI has raised questions about the nature of creative thought, and there is well-placed anxiety among educators concerning the impact that outsourcing the imagination will have on pupils. As educators, we need to find new ways of engaging pupils’ minds within a rapidly changing landscape of learning. It has never been more important to foster curiosity alongside judiciously placed scepticism. We need our pupils to be open-minded, without becoming credulous.
I am also keenly aware that schools are currently preparing young people for a future we cannot predict. As such, new emphasis needs to be placed on the qualities that ensure they will thrive regardless of how far the vocational landscape shifts. Fostering resilience and flexibility alongside essential skills such as critical thinking and oracy is key.
ANNA CAMILLERI, DEPUTY Head (ACADEMIC)
Why Charterhouse?
From my first interview visit, it was clear that Charterhouse is an extremely friendly place and a vibrant, creative community. I was fortunate to see the School during Artifex, and was completely wowed by the wide-ranging artistic talents of the pupils. I am really excited to be part of a school that values and celebrates the Arts. As a gregarious and outgoing person, I am drawn to the community aspect of the School and am particularly excited to contribute to the kindness and respect for others that underpins it.
My background is highly academic; what has motivated me throughout has been the joy of learning and the rewards of encountering new ideas and new ways of thinking. I’m excited to contribute to the existing culture of academic excellence and to work with a really exciting team of beaks to innovate new ways of fostering scholarly pursuits among pupils and staff. A culture of reading is central to this, and Charterhouse is blessed with brilliant Librarians and an outstanding Library to support literacy throughout the School. In short, I will make it my priority to support and encourage existing cultures of learning – and to invest in new ones.
Life Beyond the Hashroom
It will come as no surprise that I love reading. Recently, I’ve tackled some nineteenth-century Russian novels which I had shamefully never read: ‘War and Peace’, ‘Crime and Punishment’, and ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ (the third of these is a work in progress…). I also enjoy being in the great outdoors, and Charterhouse is in one of the most beautiful parts of the world to experience that. Going to the theatre is one of my greatest pleasures. I recently saw ‘The Lady from the Sea’ at the Bridge Theatre and was completely wowed by what Simon Stone achieved with that production. Since ‘retiring’ from competitive sport (riding and rowing), I channel my will to win into Scrabble, Bridge, and Chess, though not always successfully!
