Our Patch March 2015 | Page 23

NEWS UPDATE ALL CHANGE AT ST PETER’S SCHOOL St Peter’s CofE Primary School headteacher Jean Shipton bows out on a high after 24 years as ambitious development project gets underway headteacher in 2000 – added: “I now feel it is time for me to move on and let the school continue to go from strength to strength with a new leader.” The decision to leave was not easy. “I have spent some considerable time deliberating between the joy of leading St Peter’s and the possibility of pursuing other careers in education or outside the world of teaching and learning,” she said. She added that she was confident the governors and the London Diocesan Board for Schools would find a good replacement in the next six months to ensure a smooth transition. It sounds like such a long time ago but I can remember my classroom days and the children very well indeed T he much-loved headteacher of St Peter’s CofE Primary School is saying farewell to her pupils after nearly a quarter of a century. Jean Shipton is leaving the Hammersmith school in the summer after overseeing the start of major development work set to transform the buildings for the future. Mrs Shipton joined the school, in St Peter’s Road, as a Year Six teacher in September 1991. In a letter to parents in February, announcing her decision, she wrote: “It sounds like such a long time ago, but I can remember my classroom days, and the children, very well indeed’. Jean – who took up her post as Deeds to the school, signed by founder Lucy Hannah Scott, discovered during building works She praised the partnership between parents, carers and the school, as well as the close ties with St Peter’s Church which have helped make the school so successful for 165 years. Mrs Shipton added that the St Peter’s community had a ‘great deal to look forward to’ with the school’s ambitious new development plans which will create new classrooms, hall, kitchen and playground, set to be completed by September 2016. And the school is also consulting on its admissions policy to allow a percentage of places to be allocated to local children without needing to demonstrate religious commitment. Mrs Shipton finished the letter by saying: “The school was founded 166 years ago in 1849 by Lucy Hannah Scott, and it has been my immense privilege to continue her legacy in educating the children of the local community. “I will treasure the memories of the past 24 years here at St Peter’s and would like to thank each and every one of you for all your support, care and encouragement.” Ready to buy, sell or let? Visit Horton and Garton at 176 King Street, Hammersmith W6 0RA today! @hortonandgarton www.facebook.com/hortonandgarton www.hortonandgarton.co.uk