Half-way through the school year is the perfect time to look backwards and to look into the future.  We continue to reap the benefits of the new teaching and learning spaces in the main building.  The new and remodeled accommodation has given the whole school a real boost.  This is reflected in the fact that we now have waiting lists in many year groups.  It has also been great to see the impact of the Merton College students’ work upon our 3 playgrounds – Nursery, Infant and Junior.  We have listened to the children when they have said they wanted more colour in their playspaces and now we have been able to do something about it whilst simultaneously establishing a meaningful community link.  We have also made arrangements to improve the monkey bars in the junior playground and to explore a more robust design for the junior children’s Contact Books for next year.  Both of these ideas came from suggestions from the children.

Team Points have proved to be a great success, endorsing good work, effort and behaviour.  I make no apologies about my desire that Devonshire children should aspire towards a balance of cleverness and goodness.  Another positive has been the recent, heartening responses to charity appeals by the Devonshire family.  The Haiti Relief Appeal, Barnardo’s, Help for Heroes and Children in Need have all benefited from your generosity.

From a personal perspective, it has been really good to be asked to assume the role of mentor to a newly-appointed Headteacher in Sutton.  I want all of our children, staff and governors to reflect on their actions and the whole process of acting as a mentor is predicated upon reflection and self-analysis.

Looking forward, the possibility of school expansion is filling our thoughts.  As I write, no plans have been presented to the school.  If approval is granted, it will be a huge undertaking for Devonshire.  We would need to build upon last year’s experiences of maintaining the highest expectations for our children against a backdrop of potential disruption.  There can be no other staff team in Sutton with greater first-hand experience of overcoming such barriers.

Finally, many people have been asking me about Wilf, our playful border terrier.  He continues to run the Kearsey household with a mixture of mischief and mayhem.  As you can see from the photo, he has recently taken on the unpaid position of my personal assistant.