WAY AHEAD

09:20 – 30 October 2006
Well-done to the Echo for Picture This (October 24). The pictures of the children at Fiskerton CE Primary School were a real source of both joy and hope.

Here is a school that has not just stuck to successfully providing academic input (top 5% in England) but makes sure the children are made ready to face the world and positively contribute to its future.

It involves staff, pupils and the local community. This is what a school should be.

Academics and innovators should study a school providing what our society needs.

The priorities of Maralyn Papworth, head teacher, are centred on each of the individual children in her care.

Educational managers who seem to be pursuing personal academic fame and managers and politicians who appear to treat children as things to manipulate and feed to statistical mincing machines should all learn from Maralyn Papworth and others like her – treat pupils as individuals seeking to learn how they can contribute.