My friend Amanda Morris-Drake, who has died of cancer at the age of 64, was a teacher and advocated for children’s right to a creative education. Her response to her diagnosis was, “But I have so much more to give.”
Her career culminated in her appointment in 2014 as head of the Pilgrim Pupil Referral Unit in Cambridge; the school supports children and young people in hospitals with complex mental and physical health needs.
Her vision was to make it a place of hope. The staff spoke of her kindness, her generosity and her fight for the right education for every child. Under her leadership, the Pilgrim PRU was judged outstanding in two successive Ofsted inspections.
Her dedication to helping people extended far beyond her work. She volunteered with refugees in Calais, with the homeless, as an independent visitor for a boy in a home and with Cambridge past present and futurea charity that protects the city and its environment. She was also curator of the Batemans Trust (a small charity in Chennai, India, caring for vulnerable children).
Amanda was born in Cambridge, the daughter of Joy (née Norbury), a social worker, and Peter Morris, a lawyer. She attended King’s school, Ely, before studying education (specializing in drama) at the University of Exeter. She married Nick Drake, whom she first met at school, in 1992. They shared a love of travel and adventure, and had two daughters.
Creativity was a common thread through Amanda’s life. She loved books, theater, galleries, musicals, film, poetry, fabrics and color.
Amanda wanted all children to have access to the arts. She would keep the value of a creative curriculum on the agenda of Pilgrim board meetings and volunteered to do so Cambridge Curiosity and Imaginationa charity that supports underprivileged children to be creative by nature. One child told her: “This certainly made me feel how lucky we are to have such a beautiful world.”
She is survived by Nick, her daughters, Amy and Myah, a grandchild, Marella, and her brothers, Mark and Jim.