Dear Parents and Carers
As we draw the curtain over another academic year at Myton, it is time to bid a fond farewell to colleagues who are moving on. There are a handful this year but I’d like to take a bit of time to say goodbye to Mark Sykes, our longest serving member of staff, who is retiring this year. It’s difficult to be precise about Mark’s career at Myton as he started here in an era which pre-dated most technology we rely on, but according to the parchments we dug out I believe he started at Myton sometime around the last Great Reform Act. He has fulfilled many roles here over the years but has spent the last few happily teaching Politics to our A level students, inspiring many into a career in the subject. It is notable that whenever we visit Parliament there are some of Mark’s ex students working there who come and see us and talk to the kids, this includes one ex student who was working in Number 10 until very recently.
The word I associate with Mark is loyal – loyal to the school, our students, our staff and our community. He has served the Myton community tirelessly over the years, he never has a day off and he never gives up. He is also very quick with a kind and supportive word for his colleagues which I can personally vouch for.
Given his length of service, he has seen many, many changes in education and diligently ignored all of them – why should he do it differently if it works? Three years ago we had a ransomware attack which wiped our servers of our entire curriculum. I spoke to all our Heads of Department to get an idea of the extent of the loss which was heart breaking. When I got to Mark and asked what he had lost he replied “I’ve lost my youth, I’ve lost my vigour – everything else is on paper” before happily strolling off.
I can’t do justice to Mark’s career in these few lines and won’t try. On behalf of us all at Myton and the tens of thousands of students he would have taught over the years in this community, best wishes for a well earned retirement.
And on behalf of us all at Myton, I‘d like to wish you all a great summer and will look forward to seeing you all again in the Autumn.
Best wishes
Andy Perry
