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Retiring headteacher Sue Seifert with some of her pupils at Montem Primary School |
After 40 years, head’s farewell to rollercoaster life she loves
INSPIRATIONAL primary headteacher Sue Seifert is retiring next Friday after 40 years in education.
Sue, 63, is leaving Montem Primary School, in Hornsey Road, Holloway, after 10 years, to enjoy her retirement and return to her first love – landscape painting.
One of London’s most influential heads, she won a lifetime achievement award in 2004.
She recently mourned the loss of her 65-year-old sister Ruth, a prominent consultant psychiatrist who died of cancer.
In a recent interview with the Tribune, Sue said that, while she enjoyed teaching she hated the growth of bureaucracy over the years and the introduction of tests and targets.
She added: “We’re taking children’s childhood away.
“We’re making them stressed out when they should be enjoying learning.”
At her previous school, Thornhill Primary in Barnsbury, and later at Montem, Sue always knew the name of every child, how he or she was doing in school and probably their entire family history.
Her deputy, Nick Tait, who will become the school’s new head, said: “Most of her former pupils will say she has eyes in the back of her head, always knowing when a child was behaving badly.
“The children in her care have always been creatively challenged, as well as nurtured. Her influence extends to the careers of the many teachers and staff she worked with over the years.
“She has a natural ability to spot talented teachers and those with management potential. The list of those who have gone on to substantial jobs inside and outside Islington after working for Sue is long indeed.”
Never one to shy away from a difficult challenge, one of Sue’s greatest achievements has been in turning round Montem. The school was failing when she took over as acting head and she leaves it as a vibrant, happy and energetic place where learning is valued.
Sue, whose father Sigmund was a leading left-wing solicitor and libel lawyer for the Daily Worker (now the Morning Star), began teaching in 1968 at Laycock Primary School in Highbury.
She has not quite yet left education, however. She will be temporary acting head at nearby Canonbury Primary School four days a week until the post can be filled. Sue said: “Teaching has been a rollercoaster but I love it. It’s also very good fun. And as for Montem, children, parents and staff have been a pleasure to work with and I shall miss them all.” |
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