On Monday morning, the school received the terribly sad news that Dr Joe Sharp passed away at the weekend. Dr Sharp joined Balcarras in 2004 and taught Chemistry for over a decade before joining the DT department and the Cover Supervisor team. He retired at Easter 2025.

Dr Sharp was one of a kind—he had a passion and flair for science that was infectious—his lessons were always active and often unpredictable. He loved bringing science to life and this would often involve fire and/or explosions! He believed that it was important to capture young people’s interest and fire their imagination. There will be countless children over the years who were inspired to learn science because of Dr Sharp. He was a committed educator who really did want to make a difference for each one of his students.

Although his first passion was science, he also taught in the Design Department and we were very grateful to be able to draw on his considerable expertise in this area. Beyond teaching Joe threw himself into the wider life of the school in several areas. He went on 4 school expeditions to far flung places such as Mongolia and Tanzania. He supported the school’s Duke of Edinburgh programme and was a real advocate for outdoor pursuits. For many years he went on the school ski trip including the trip to Myrkdalen this year. I’ll never forget skiing with him—he was 15 years older than me, but I could never keep up!

Joe was also a key member of the staff choir. He loved to sing and rarely missed a rehearsal. My hunch is that his love of singing came from the fact that it is essentially a communal activity where the end result is always more than the sum of its parts. Joe was a man for whom community mattered above all else.

The whole staff are in shock that he has died so soon after retirement. He had so many friends here and he will be greatly missed. We send our very sincere condolences to his wife Sarah and to his children.

Dominic Burke