Coleridge Primary School are remembering their friend and colleague, Alex Pepe

It is with great sadness that the school is sharing the news that Alex Pepe, a former teacher at Coleridge, passed away on Friday 28th March. Alex had been fighting Burkitt lymphoma with great strength and bravery, for the past year. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family at home. He was 33 years old.

Alex’s family shared this post on social media:

Our beautiful, brave, and brilliant Alexander left us to dance with the angels last night with the sun shining, surrounded by his family at home.

Although his time with us was cut short, his infectious smile, inspirational gift for teaching, positive energy, mesmerising dance moves, and unwavering strength will last for eternity.

Alex worked at Coleridge from 2011 until 2018 teaching in Years 4, 5 and 6. He will be remembered as a truly inspirational teacher who loved his job and cared deeply for his students. Alex was incredibly popular with both children and their families – everyone wanted to be in Mr Pepe’s class!

Alex had a unique ability to see the potential in every child. He understood the importance of nurturing children in order to help them to flourish and to feel positive about who they are and what they could achieve. His classes always supported one another, as Alex taught them how to work as a team and instilled a spirit of togetherness.

Alex always championed children who, at times, found school very challenging, never giving up on them. After leaving Coleridge, it is no surprise that he went on to work with children who were out of the mainstream education system, supporting them to learn and preparing them for life.

His impact on so many children’s lives has been huge. Not only did Alex help children to learn and prepare for secondary school, he also demonstrated his individual talents as a director of the school play for many years, where he took great pride in drawing the very best performance out of each child. Alex accompanied Year 6 children on their PGL trip a number of times. He comforted home-sick children; encouraged nervous students to face their fears and led the dancing at the end-of-the-week disco with a great deal of enthusiasm!

The staff at Coleridge loved Alex dearly. He has remained a close friend to many of us here and we are heartbroken by his passing. As difficult as the news has been, we have found comfort in sharing videos, photos and memories of Alex’s time at the school. These include Alex’s famous dance moves, which were showcased at various staff parties; his brilliant singing in the teacher’s band and of course, his love of inexplicably short shorts, even in the depths of winter!

We understand that many people will have their own special memories of Alex, so we’d love for former students, parents and anyone who knew Alex to share their memories here. These will be shared with Alex’s family.

Alex and his family have been raising money for the charity ‘Children with Cancer UK’ since Alex was diagnosed last year. The current amount raised is over £17,000! If you would like to make a donation, you can do so by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/john-pepe

With our warmest wishes,
The Coleridge Primary staff team.

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Thoughts

Wanted to share this comment I added to Mr Pepe's last Instagram post. I don't know if he got to read it - he seemed so go quickly at the end - but I hope it brought some comfort to his family... Dear Mr Pepe (apologies for the official teacher title but that’s how you’re fondly known in our house). Wanted to say how sad we are by this post. And also tell you what a fantastic teacher you were to Lottie and my nephew Ben. You have left a lasting legacy and I know that they will remember being in your class for the rest of their days. Thank you for your energy, enthusiasm, fun, encouragement and the dancing! I will never forget seeing you lead the kids in Despacito at the yr 6 leavers party. Sending you so much love and respect ❤️❤️
Anna, James, Lottie & Chloe Aufenast
18th May 2023
Absolutely heartbroken to hear of Alex’s passing , he helped my son so much in passing his GCSES and getting into college , he worked so hard with my son that I will be forever grateful to him . We are both very lucky we had the opportunity of working with Alex and knowing him . He taught my son the card game UNO , which we play as a family now . He gave my son the confidence he lost and believed in him that he could achieve anything he set out to do . A truly remarkable young man, one of a kind , that will never be forgotten, my sincere condolences to his family . An angel who was given his wings . Gone too soon .
Stephanie & Demetri
2nd May 2023
Heartbreaking to hear of Alex’s passing. Personally, he was my favourite teacher. My fondest memory was when he was trying to explain the SATS marking system to me - in the end he gave up as he seemed to be as confused as me, even with his mathematic brain! It really does seem to be that the kindest, most wonderful people are lost to us too soon….
Nova Crawford
1st April 2023