Following an event at The Old Shire Hall, we have a new “Young High Sheriff” in town. The High Sheriff of Warwickshire had invited our students to apply for this position as a way of helping young people understand the role and the history behind it. Twenty of our students were invited to Old Shire Hall on Wednesday to enjoy an evening of pomp and tradition, town criers, High Sheriffs past and present and local dignitaries. All the students were celebrated and then Aaron in Year 13 was announced as the winner, invited to the stage to be robed and promptly started his duties in handing out High Sheriff Awards. It was a lovely evening in a lovely venue with great food and free wine and I would like to thank the High Sheriff for inviting Myton to be part of this – the first Young High Sheriff anywhere in the country.
As part of the event I was invited to nominate two members of our support staff who go above and beyond for our community to receive High Sheriff Awards. To be honest I could have nominated any number of them as our whole support staff really do keep the school functioning every day, we’d be lost without them. However, after a lot of consideration I settled on the following two colleagues to receive these prestigious awards which are given in the name of the King.
Jane Burrows
Jane is our Financial Director and oversees most parts of the school which are not student facing eg HR, Finance, Estates etc. Jane is also the woman who has led us from losing a third of the school to raac, to getting the emergency accommodation on site that enabled us to have all our students in school and moving onwards to the building of our modular village which will have some of the best accommodation in the school when we get it next spring. Jane knows how to deliver construction projects (see our new sixth form block) so whilst the DfE were still spinning and waffling in September, Jane was booking surveys, mapping our grounds, sorting the Bake-Off marquees for Drama and booking contractors to get these temps in as soon as possible. Without Jane, we would never have gotten all the students in by 14 October and without Jane the modular building next Spring wouldn’t be nearly so nice (it really is looking good, big and light classrooms, all climate controlled and with state of the art tech). Whilst we still await news on the extent of any rebuild project, the fact that we are in such a strong position now, with all our kids in and the purpose built modular on the way, is in no small measure down to her hard work. And once we know for sure about the school rebuild, it will be Jane who ensures this community gets a lovely brand new school. Finally, I have discussed plenty of times the nature of the battles we have had to get this far, it will be no surprise that when we are lined up for another round with the DfE, it is always Jane I take in with me, she knows how to fight as well!
Carolyn Haines
Keeping children safe is the first priority of any school. Of course this responsibility goes far wider than the school gates as our community, like all others, experiences trauma, abuse and bereavement. At the very front of our front line to protect children is Carolyn. When I first arrived at Myton in 2011 as a Deputy, the then Head told me that in all issues of safeguarding, ask Carolyn’s advice, this is something that we all still do. I have rarely worked with anybody who is so universally respected as Carolyn, everybody who knows her understands how morally driven she is in her role, how reflective she always is and how hard she works for our kids. I know many students and families have relied heavily on Carolyn to guide them through tough times over the years, they will sometimes let me know how grateful they are to her. On top of this, she is very easy to work with, has a brilliant sense of humour (she needs one) and an incredible energy. It is difficult to measure the success of such a role, but on behalf of all those children who have been and now are safer because of Carolyn Haines, it was a pleasure to nominate her for the High Sheriff Award.
Mrs Haines and Mrs Burrows with Aaron and our runners up Toby and On Tai.
