This week, we are saying goodbye to Anne Leckie, who has been an integral part of our school for an incredible 29 years, serving as the Head’s Personal Assistant. Anne has been a constant source of support and stability to everyone around her. As Mr Scholey aptly put it:

“She will be sorely missed by many, as she has been synonymous with the school for so many children, families, and staff over the years. We wish her all the very best in her well-earned retirement.”

To show their appreciation, the children celebrated Anne in Assembly by singing a special song in her honour. Additionally, Mr. Watkins wrote a heartfelt poem that beautifully captures the immense impact Anne has had on the school community:

Mrs Leckie is a legend of Sutton Valence School

But people say that “legend”, as a word is overused

So the only way to check and see if it is true

Is to make a few comparisons to legends old and new

And since our Mrs Leckie has been here 29 years

See if you can spot the twenty-nine legends hidden here…

She’s seen off more heads than Hercules cut off the Hydra

Like the great Queen Boudicca there’s plenty of fire inside her

She brings glamour to the office, our own Miss Moneypenny

With a special kind of wisdom like the Oracle at Delphi

She’s our Helen of Troy, Guinevere, the fair Maid Marian

And Hippolyta of the Amazons, all rolled into one.

If a ball’s hit you in the face you may need our own Tooth Fairy 

She’s as kind as Florence Nightingale and never ever scary

Unless you are a teacher who’s late with a certificate

Because then she’s like Miss Marple and really quite magnificent

She’ll track you down like Sherlock Holmes and glare at you like Medusa

And snare you like Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth; you simply can’t refuse her

Like the famous Lizzie Bennett, she’s a woman with opinions 

More independent than Beyoncé with her team of office Minions

Not that she’s like Gru at all, but she’s a true team leader

Sprinkling fairy dust like Tinkerbelle, she’s always there if you need her

She’s SV’s Fairy Godmother, our own Queen Elizabeth

She’s always on a quest or two, three times longer than Odysseus

She remembers the good old days when things were a bit more Enid Blyton

If you laid out the kids who she’s seen through the school, they would stretch from here to Brighton

Bad weather can’t keep her away; through the snow she will come fighting 

Like Elsa or mighty Zeus, through thunder and through lightning 

Her knowledge runs deep, she knows the school inside out

But when she’s here no more then to whom will we shout?

Where is this, who does that, where’s the place that this thing lives 

What was in that letter we wrote back in 1996?

We don’t know what we don’t know until the one who knows it’s gone 

So like Alexander Graham Bell we’ll be picking up the phone

To the one who knows what’s what like the Greek goddess Athena

Because we know today won’t be the last time that we’ll see her

She’s woven into the fabric of the Sutton Valence tale

But the time has come for us to part, like Jonah and the Whale

But Anne will stay within our hearts, and despite my efforts here

William Shakespeare summed her up best: “Though she be but little, she is fierce!

Enjoy your retirement, Anne! You will always be remembered fondly by everyone at Sutton Valence.