Head of Little Common school to say goodbye

He will be retiring at the end of this term having been at the helm of Little Common Primary School for 24 years - he started there as head in January 1986.

David's career has been an illustrious one, and the school has earned a reputation for providing excellent education for all of its pupils.

The school roll has grown from just over 200, as it was when David joined, to 650 at present, and the number of staff has increased from about 20 to around 100.

Under David's leadership, the school has been in the forefront of a number of initiatives in education.

He was one of the first heads to employ a team of classroom assistants to support class teachers, an approach that has become the norm in later years.

As a prime mover behind the formation of the Bexhill Consortium, he took on the chairmanship and has steered it into the successful position it now occupies in education circles.

David enjoys time with pupils most of all, and is in his element when leading the annual visit to York with Year 5, where his love of history enables him to impart knowledge of the history of Britain while showing pupils the evidence of different eras of development. His love of sport is evident in his coaching of the football team, which has done well at tournaments over the years. Along with Chris Topp's granddad, he introduced cricket as a sport that is offered at Little Common, and successive teams have achieved at both local and national level. A number of ex-pupils have gone on to excel. David also runs the chess club, and has been proud of the teams' results at County level.

A popular Head with parents, David has worked with successive PTAs to raise funds for the numerous extras to which the school budget will never stretch. This year, he will be playing a considerable part in the school summer fete on Saturday July 3.

The PTA are hoping that anyone who has had a connection with the school over the past quarter century will consider coming along on that day to help to make David's last school fete one to remember.

The school is organising a drop-in session on Saturday July 17 from 12-3pm for ex-pupils and parents, and anyone else who has a connection with the school to call by and wish David well in his retirement. There will also be a signing book and anyone who will be unable to call in person is invited to send something in writing to be included in the book.