Coordinator Change

	Retiring Coordinator — Frank Chennell
		Frank Chennell has been our coordinator since TSN first began. Frank was born in Kent although he can never remember if he is a Kentish Man or a Man of Kent. Leaving school to train in electrical engineering, he later decided to become a teacher and then taught science in high schools for 27 years in the UK, Africa and Saudi Arabia. A few years after moving to Norfolk he joined the advisory team for secondary school science in the Norfolk Education Department. It was shortly after he left advisory work that I told him about a teacher-scientist partnership scheme I had seen in San Francisco. Frank was enthusiastic about the idea and so we got together a working group of local scientists and teachers and set up TSN in summer 1994. Frank has been the coordinator of TSN ever since. Frank has seen TSN grow from its beginnings as a small network of teacher-scientist partners to its present size and range of activity—a hundred or so partnerships, master classes for high school teachers, science workshops for primary school teachers, the Kit Club and large science week events for school children. Is he looking forward to retirement? “Yes, but I will miss the work. I think it’s been the most exciting job I’ve ever had, and it’s certainly my longest; six years is the longest time I’ve ever stayed in one job before. I’ve really enjoyed being TSN’s coordinator, but I have lots of interests and things to do at home, so I leave with mixed feelings. But I’m happy that Phil is going to take over the TSN’s management—he has lots of energy, enthusiasm and an excellent working knowledge of how TSN works.” We all wish Frank a long and happy retirement, but I will make sure he remains engaged so that we can all continue to see him and benefit from his accumulated wisdom! We all owe him a great debt for the time, energy and enthusiasm he has put into TSN. Thank you Frank! Keith Roberts
	New Coordinator — Phil Smith
		Phil hails from ‘just over the river from Liverpool’ (the Wirral to be precise), a pretty 60 sq. miles peninsular, famous for such diverse things as shipbuilding, Tranmere Rovers and the musical talents of OMD, oh and the longest promenade in Britain!. A comprehensive co-ed education, with ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels led Phil to the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne to study Agricultural Biology, a Biology-based course with a slice of Chemistry. So what about physics? “… dropped that as soon as I’d struggled to get my ‘O’-level. Sorry!” Graduating in 1990 with a 2(i) he moved to the John Innes Centre for a 3-year job contract ... thirteen years later, he is still in his adopted county, has completed his PhD and spent the last four years developing his enthusiasm and experience of classroom science as a partnered scientist in TSN (with Mrs Maxine Woods). Scientifically, Phil is trained as a plant pathologist, studying fungal diseases of crop plants, at the plant, cellular, and molecular level, a background that contributed to his development of a micro-organisms course for the Primary Science Workshops. His partnership began at Heacham Middle School and has headed out of the county when Maxine moved to Essex. “I must be the only partnered scientist who heads off to school with a sleeping bag in the boot!” commented Phil. “Being in the classroom has taught me a lot about education and I am still learning – planning whole science days for year 5/6 has been eye-opening! I am indebted to Maxine for all her advice over the years. We will continue with our successful partnership but I am thrilled to have the opportunity of succeeding Frank, in what I truly believe is my dream job!”