In The Spotlight: Nicoletta Cordell

This month, Nicoletta Cordell (2008-23) is in the spotlight:  

What did you do before you worked at BMS? 

I have always wanted to teach and as such I have been fortunate enough to spend my career doing just that. I went from school to university and then straight into my first job at a local comprehensive school in Bedford. In all, I spent 20 years at my first school progressing to Asst Head of Sixth Form and Second in Science (not at the same time!).

I successfully applied for The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program and as a result spent time teaching Chemistry in Weatherford, Texas, USA; a small town just west of Fort Worth and Dallas and I loved it there! Their education system was very different to the UK education system and at the time much more progressive; I was introduced to video clips which I was able to download and use in lessons. This was very new technology then (2002) but to download even the shortest clip took several hours – usually left overnight to download!

Tell us about what you do now. Has your time at the School influenced your life today?  

I don’t like to think of myself as retired; I prefer ‘taking a gap year or 2’. Finally, after 35 years I am able to travel out of the school holidays and that is what I have been doing since I left BMS. My husband and I have driven across Europe taking in France and a lot of Italy before reaching and traveling through Greece. We have been to Oman, UAE, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Our next trips will be driving to Spain, Island hopping in Greece and possibly heading to Cuba later this year. I can now read a book uninterrupted, practice my Greek Duolingo and acoustic guitar as much as I like and the latter requires A LOT of practice. I’m by no means a natural.

How has BMS enriched my life...hmm.....through the people, staff and students, I have met and the opportunities I have had working with them all. BMS is a great community I am happy to have been and remain a part of.

Tell us about your time at BMS. Do you have any special memories you would like to share? 

Wow, I have many lovely memories from 15 years at BMS. Many from my roles as Form Tutor, Chemistry teacher, Assistant Head of Year, Head of House (Go Tilden!), Enrichment Coordinator and Chair of the Common Room. I also loved helping out the Drama Department with their annual performances. The annual Chemistry Dept Christmas play was laid on (with virtually no rehearsal) specially for the Year 13s as a spoof of The Christmas Carol. The students LOVED it! Shout out to key performers Neale Else, John Fitton and Claire Oswald! The message was ultimately to let the students know there was still time to turn things around if they were not yet focused on their upcoming external exams.

In the lab watching creative students produce songs, videos and games for chemistry revision was a joy. Jason Attwood putting on a Spanish accent to play a farmer extolling the virtues of fertilizers, Luke Yates writing a revision song and playing his guitar, Charles Hargreaves Mawson, CHM, as I used to call him producing a Benny Hill type sketch of Bloopers with Megan Owen et al to follow a fabulous video on the factors affecting the Rate of a Reaction. Writing all over the wooden desks in chalk (S10) with Kieran White as part of revision; it was a real privilege to work with such wonderful students and to be able to do these types of activities so freely. My pink lab coat!

Thinking back to the many areas of school I was involved in has highlighted what a special place BMS really is. So much is packed into every term of every year beyond the bounds of the curriculum by the Music, Drama, Sports Dept as well as by the House System and individual subject departments like the Chemistry Dept.  

Was there someone from your time at BMS who had an impact on you? 

No one person but it is always inspiring to see how staff and students rise to the challenges put before them whether academic or personal with the support of the BMS family.

What do you do like to do in your spare time? 

There are too many activities I like to do and I am involving myself in as many as possible. Reading, running, improving my Greek language skills, guitar practice, learning to use a sewing machine, helping my parents and travelling as much as I can. It's been a very busy first year away from BMS so I'm still adapting to time to do whatever I would like.

What would be your advice to your younger self? 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do." - Mark Twain

Are there any other thoughts you would like to share with the OBM and BMS community?

There are many opportunities afforded to staff and students as part of BMS or as an OBM, do as many as you can and create lifelong memories and friends.