I hope everyone has a great Easter break and Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim families as they celebrate Eid in the second week of the school holidays.
The spring term finishes today and this means that I have now been headteacher here for exactly 20 years. That’s quite some time! I came here because I knew (and liked) the school from the 1990s when I did some IT advisory work for the school, and also because I had some friends living nearby. I was particularly attracted to the idea of using and developing the grounds which must be amongst the most generous in the city.
I inherited a very good school all those years ago. Some things have changed markedly in those 20 years and others haven’t. The children are still delightful and playful and the families remain very supportive and aspirational. The buildings have aged even more, but their core is typically sound, having benefitted from LCC investment in heating, electrics, some roofing and fire safety. The grounds are exciting and educational, but two decades is enough to see some signs of climate change: winters predicted to get wetter and warmer and this year has been the muddiest and wettest we have ever had in my two decades!
Over those 20 years, our student body has become more diverse and very inclusive. Both of these things are clear strengths and positives for the school and its families. Our staff continue to work very hard, to care and be receptive to developing practice. IT has changed somewhat over those 20 years: there were little or no interactive boards, projectors, wifi or web-based resources in 2004. The idea of 1:1 deployment of laptops would have been fanciful. We had no minibuses or farm provision. There were no trees on the top field (other than the remnants of an old hedge at the top of the yard) and the school was 20% smaller in terms of numbers on roll.
We have had some superb teachers (and other staff) over the years. Some have retired, a few have left the profession, and many have gone on to promotions. Quite a number have simply stayed: happy to work in a friendly, supportive team and do a great job.
I am very happy with my career choice, always coming to work happily and positively. It is a rewarding and interesting job. It certainly has challenges at times, but it would probably be a bit boring if it didn’t. I really enjoy the little bits of teaching I still do even though it is nearly thirty years since I had a full-time class teaching commitment.
I won’t make it to 30 years as head here – and probably not 25 – but I hope that I do have a few years left. Farfield is a special place and I like it here.
