Pupil’s sweet card thanks ‘smart’ head
IF you’re teacher having a hard day hopefully this will cheer you up. This super-sweet card to a headteacher from a pupil is a good reminder of why you probably got into the job in the first place.
In it the 10-year-old girl, an asylum seeker, thanks Kevan Crowther, headteacher at Heybrook Primary, for helping her to settle in the UK.
She also praises him for being ‘very smart’ adding ‘no wonder why you have clever teachers and kids in this school.’ The card came to light after it was Tweeted by government minister Sajid Javid when he visited the school.
It says: “You are a very smart headteacher. No wonder why you have clever teachers and kids in this school. Thank you for being the best school.
“When I first came to this school I didn’t even know how to say ‘Hi.’ but look now, I’m writing this card in English by myself. Thank you for your support.”
Mr Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who was born and brought up in Rochdale, Tweeted: “Couldn’t help being moved by this Christmas card message to inspirational Heybrook Primary School head from a 9yr old new arrival to U.K.”
He was visiting the school, which is recent years has taught kids from 40 different countries, to discuss integration and the importance of immigrants learning English.
Mr Crowther said: “I will cherish that card forever.
“It sums up everything we are trying to do at Heybrook and everything that Mr Javid’s visit was about.
“Here is a child who came to us as a new arrival in the UK and she has soaked up everything we have given her.
“She’s been in the school for two years, and when she arrived, as she says in the card, she couldn’t speak a word of English. Now she is able to write a card like that.
“It’s just fantastic and that’s what we are trying to do with every child who arrives here.”
During the visit Mr Javid, a former city banker and the son of a Pakistani immigrant who arrived in Rochdale with just £1 in his pocket, spoke with children and gave an assembly about his life.
Mr Crowther added: “His message, and it’s the message we are constantly giving children at school, is that in the UK there is no ceiling on aspiration.
“Sajid Javid is the embodiment of that and he is the perfect person to get that message across to our kids because his background is their background.”