06/01/11……Final farewell from retiring headteacher

AS Barley Hill School in Thame begins the new term with a new headteacher, the outgoing Head, John Hulett has spoken about the changes in support for education during his time and reflecting on his 16 years at the school.

Writing in the school news letter, Mr Hulett has written: “In my early years here the Local Authority used to play a much more central role in supporting teachers than it does today. I used to receive regular visits from our local adviser and friendly advice from our area education officer. Support for headteachers now comes largely from external providers and the Local Authority community has changed greatly and diminished in size.”

Mr Hulett expressed his appreciation for the support of The Thame Partnership of local schools, and talked about how he had valued his close working relationship with the other Thame schools’ heads and how their priority had always been cooperation and collaboration and never competition.

He thanked Chris Neal who was Chair of Governors at the school when Mr Hulett became headteacher and the current Chair, Paul Nicholas, as well as the many parents and community representatives who had served as Governors. He also paid tribute to the parents for their high level of interest and support to their childrens? education, which he said, ?..is one of the great strengths of the school.?

Mr Hulett went on to thank, what he called, “.. an
incredibly energetic and talented team of teachers,” and concluded that leaving behind the community that is Barley Hill School, “…would leave leave an
enormous hole in my life.”

Sam Eels Taylor, who is the current Vice Chair of Governors at Barley Hill School, said: “John will be sorely missed. We have now welcomed a new Head Teacher, Anne Stopforth, an experienced head from Reading who started the role this week and we are confident that she will build on the excellent foundations laid by John.”