3000 Students Later ‘Dai’ Hermann-Smith Retires

He’s taught about 3,000 students, recovered from a multiple stabbing, and successfully coached school and national hockey teams.

Now Dafydd ‘Dai’ Hermann-Smith, 65, is retiring from Saltus Grammar School – where he has worked for the last 34 years.

However, he will leave a lasting legacy because he is setting up a needs-based scholarship for a graduating female student to go to university.

“So many young Bermudians do not have the funds to go to college, it frustrates me. Therefore, the scholarship that has been agreed is for a graduating Saltus student who is in need of financial assistance.

“There are two other restrictions, the student must be female and have made a significant contribution to sport in the school,” said Mr Hermann-Smith.

He began life at Saltus as Teacher of Economics and Geography and eventually became Head of Economics, Business and Accounts which became one of the largest departments in the Secondary Department.

He has also been Head of House, Head of Year, Year Coordinator, Assistant Examinations Officer, Careers Officer and Teacher in Charge of Work Experience and Work Shadowing.

“In the early 2000’s I declined the position of Deputy Head of the Senior School [now called the Secondary Department] realising that it would take me out of the classroom and away from my students,” said Mr Hermann-Smith.

He estimates that he has taught somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 students. “The students have sat 655 Advanced Placement Examinations, over 100 A Level Examinations and well over 1000 O level or GCSE Examinations.”

Sport has played a big part in Mr Hermann-Smith’s life – coaching cricket and hockey at Saltus up to 2011. The girls’ team did so well they ended up having two teams – one in the A League and one in the B League of the Bermuda Hockey Federation for 18 years.

“Over that time, 162 girls from Saltus represented Swifts Hockey Club. Thirty of these Swifts have gone on to play for the Bermuda Senior National Team, 38 for the Bermuda Under 21 Team and 11 for the Bermuda Under 17 team,” he said.

Before joining Saltus, Mr Hermann-Smith coached the Welsh Under 19 Men’s Hockey Team from 1975 until 1981. “In my first year in Bermuda I coached the Bermuda Men’s Federation Team in the local Easter Festival and the next year I coached the Bermuda Women’s Federation Team in the Festival.

“In 1986 I was asked to form The Bermuda Ladies Under 21 Team and I continued to Coach the Under 21 Hockey Team until 2005.

“During that time the Under 21’s went on nine training tours to Canada and competed in a four nation tournament in Ottawa in 1988 and at the Pan-American Under 21 Championships in Chile in 1997, Barbados in 2000 and Puerto Rico in 2005.

“In addition the Bermuda Under 21 team competed in the Montreal Cup in 1988, 1989 and 1992.

“I have also coached the Senior Women’s National Team on a number of occasions including the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1990 in Mexico, 1998 in Venezuela, 2010 in Puerto Rico and 2014 in Mexico.

“Also I coached the senior team at an International Tri-Series in Trinidad in 2001 and at the 2011 Pan-American Challenge Cup in Brazil. I coached Bermuda’s first Under 17 team at the Pan-American Youth Games in Uruguay in 2010.”

In his almost four decades of teaching Mr Hermann-Smith has seen many changes. In his early years he enjoyed his teaching which he described as spontaneous and centered around the students and their education.

“As teachers we were innovative individuals with each of us preparing our own teaching resources without the Internet.

“I remember the words of my first Headmaster at Saltus, Keith McPhee. He told me that I was employed to teach Economics and Geography and that if I did this successfully I would not see him in my classroom!”

Mr Hermann-Smith is an advocate of teaching being more than just a classroom lesson. “The education of young people requires that teachers inspire values such as honesty, respect, morality, humility and integrity into their students.”

In April, 1999, Mr Hermann-Smith was stabbed multiple times by a robber who broke into his house in Devonshire. Mr Hermann-Smith tackled the would-be robber and was stabbed as the assailant tried to escape.

He was hospitalised and in a critical condition for a few days, but was back at school as soon as he could. The criminal was brought to justice.

“What stands out? This may seem odd, but the outstanding memory comes from April 1999 when I was in hospital after being stabbed multiple times,” he added.

“There were some students waiting at the hospital to find out whether I would survive the stab wounds or not. Of course I was unconscious and on the operating table, I bore no pain, but the distress those students went through was to me so very powerful.

“The night after the incident I vaguely, through a morphine haze, remember a group of students visiting [briefly] my room in the hospital. Finally I was amazed at the number of flowers that were sent to my hospital room by past and present students.”

Asked what he thought his legacy might be, Mr Hermann-Smith said: “I hope I have demonstrated a sense of service, commitment, loyalty, dedication and caring for both my present and past students and for the sport of hockey.”

One of his former students, Fabio Pacheco, paid tribute to Mr Hermann-Smith, saying: “I’d like to say that he should consider himself and his career to be a real success. He will always be remembered not only by his intense economic classes, but his personality too.

“His classes helped me prepare well for University. It gave me a real eye-opener in relation to how the ‘real world’ works, so I’d like to say thank you for his time and I wish him all the best in his future.”

Claire Charlemagne, Head of School, said: “The students he taught all pay testament as to how well Mr Hermann-Smith prepared them. He is an excellent teacher and his experience and knowledge will be missed. I wish Dai every happiness in his retirement.”

#Education #SaltusGrammarSchool

Category: All