My friend and former colleague Sybil Williams, who has died aged 97, travelled to the UK from her native Australia in 1954, planning to stay for six months. She was soon working in a boarding school for disadvantaged pupils, and settled in Islington in north London.
For the rest of her life Sybil remained loyal to Islington, demonstrating her affection by sponsoring rows of ornamental pear trees on either side of Lloyd Baker Street and Great Percy Street. In the early 1960s, she was appointed head teacher of Colebrooke school, an Ilea special school for pupils identified as having emotional and behavioural difficulties. She was in her element in this environment, running her school on a democratic model, wherein the views of teachers, ancillary staff and pupils were sought before significant changes to the running of the school were made.
