Concord College bids farewell to bursar after 43 years of 'extraordinary service'

Concord College near Shrewsbury has waved goodbye to its bursar, Barbara Belfield-Dean, who has stepped down after 43 years.

She joined the college in 1979, originally as PA to Gill Hood, principal of the girls' branch of Concord at Attingham Park, before the college became fully co-educational at its Acton Burnell campus in 1982.

When she was appointed bursar in 1987 by college principal Tony Morris, she was one of the few women in the UK to hold that post.

In her 35 years in the role, she oversaw the introduction of computerised accounting and systems development and has commissioned projects worth more than £44m.

This included property and land acquisitions of over £5m and ongoing plans for developments in future years of over £37m, to provide facilities of the highest quality and improve students’ overall experience.

Concord principal Dr Michael Truss said: "Barbara gave extraordinary service to Concord over nearly half a century, including her attention to detail and appreciation of the importance of excellence in everything that we do as a school.

“These are crucial qualities to be successful as a bursar and have cemented her legacy at Concord forever. However, Barbara’s most important quality is that she never, ever forgot that the most important thing in a school is its students. She put them at the centre of all decisions with compassion and great care. That alone lifted her from an excellent bursar to a great one."

Barbara said: “Concord is quite unusual in having had so few principals during the 43 years, as most schools would have a change of head every five to ten years.

"However, Concord is unique in many ways, one being our wonderfully rich and vibrant international culture, and this has been an important and constant focus.

“The students, their care and development, should be at the centre of every school and this is certainly the case at Concord, and this goes deeper at Concord with the individual and their own uniqueness being at the heart of what we do.

"We see incredible talent in our students every year which is wonderful to witness and the whole school benefits from the diversity this brings.”

She said her proudest achievements included the first building project she was involved in.

"It was our Performing Arts Centre in 2000," she said. "I then went on to project manage other developments including the West End student recreation centre which had to be multi-functional as well as have acceptable design elements such as its Sedum roof to reduce its environmental impact.

“I have loved working on all the projects I have been involved in since, but my favourite is the new science building.  This building provided the opportunity to set the bar even higher with regard to the quality of facilities we provide, and it has been commented by a number of visiting academics that it is one of the best science teaching facilities in the country.

“High standards of cleaning, high quality furniture and soft furnishings, proactive maintenance, decoration and grounds care are vital to maintain our beautiful environment.

“Each summer I used to undertake a full site survey to identify what needed to be improved ready for the start of the new academic year. I would go into every room in every building and make notes which I then transferred into a spreadsheet with details for repairs, redecoration, furniture replacements, notice boards to be recovered, carpets, bedding and curtains.

"I wanted students to enter Concord on the first day of their new term feeling that their surroundings were of a high standard and that we cared.”