Family pays tribute to Burgess Hill head teacher with ‘tremendous drive’

Roxane Stevens, who was once the proprietor and head of the now-closed St Peter’s School in Upper St John’s Road, passed away recently at the age of 97.

Her son Hugh Stevens, who took over the school after his mother, spoke to the Middy to pay tribute to her.

He said: “Roxane was born in 1927 in Campden Hill Gardens, South Kensington, the daughter of Commander Geoffrey Johnson, RN. She lived in London until 1936 and then moved to Lyefield Farm in Forest Green, Surrey. Her two brothers served in the Navy through the war and, with his sons away, her father taught Roxane many practical skills on the farm. She developed a great love of the countryside and a special affinity for pigs.

“She never went to school, giving her a blank slate upon which to design her own school later; instead, she was taught by governesses. Because she was a bit of a rebel, dull or stupid governesses did not stay long. Eventually, yet another prospective governess came for interview, and Roxane asked her if she liked pigs. She lied and said she loved them. This got her the job, which she kept for many years, and a lifelong friendship ensued.”

Her teenage years coincided with the Second World War; as a result, she moved at times to Llangedwyn in North Wales to escape the doodlebugs.

After the war, Roxane studied Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, gaining an MA, following which she worked for some years at the War Office. In 1952 she married John Stevens, who was a teacher and book publisher. He had been the head of English at Cranleigh School and was later the headmaster of Summerfold House School in Burgess Hill. The couple lived in London until 1957 and then moved to Sussex, settling in Wivelsfield Green in 1959.

Hugh said: “They stayed there until my father died in 1996; she remained in Wivelsfield Green until 2007, when she moved to Burgess Hill, living her last 13 years in Cromwell Road.”

Roxane started at St Peter’s School in 1965 and became headmistress after just one term, after the unexpected retirement of the headmaster.

Starting with just 13 pupils, a number that rose to about 250, the school moved to Grove Road in the mid-1960s and then to Upper St John’s Road in 1971, expanding to Park Road in 1991. Roxane was headmistress until 1997 but remained involved until it closed in 2008.

Hugh said: “She was a very hard worker and had high standards for everyone. Even when I was in partnership with her in the ’90s and ’00s – when she was in her 60s and 70s – she could outwork me. She had tremendous drive.

“She was clear and forthright about what she thought and she did not suffer fools gladly; that’s really necessary when you’re running a small school. St Peter’s was not based on other schools but on her own understanding of children and how they needed to be taught. She had a particularly soft spot for bright children with strong, independent spirits, who probably reminded her of herself.”

Hugh said she was the kind of person who ‘turned her hand to any practical job’. He said: “In the war, she learnt to make her own clothes from old sheets and curtains, and then later used those skills to make play costumes at the school. One very talented pupil loved working with the fabrics so viscerally that he was permitted to help her in this, and he later became an accomplished fashion designer in his own right.”

Hugh added that one of the reasons the school was founded in the mid-1960s was to offer ‘straightforward’ education during the government’s controversial changes to state education. “She always taught reading using phonics. School inspectors would criticise her for it and propose that she follow the latest disastrous teaching fashion instead. Eventually, there came an inspector who said he was impressed to see that she was already using phonics!”

“As a mother, Roxane was a phenomenon and fiercely loyal”, said Hugh. “We all knew that she was 100 per cent on our side. She had a formidable will, but always there was an unaffected innocence and lack of sophistication to her. She was not an intellectual but she was strong and principled in her family and professional life.”

Roxane loved the company of her children and her dogs, and she took great interest in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Even when she finally retired from her beloved school, she remained active, enjoying visits to rural France, working in the garden and making improvements around the house.

The funeral will take place at 2pm on Thursday, May 22, at Wivelsfield Parish Church. The family would be delighted to welcome ex-staff, ex-pupils or their parents, (details from funeral directors, P. and S. Gallagher, 01444-239869).