It’s always sad to say ‘Goodbye’, especially to someone who has had such a long and impacting effect upon our school. Our Head, Mr Holland retired at Easter after 36 years teaching, including 23 years at Hartford Church of England High School, with 18 of those years serving as Head.

Despite the expansion of our school, fantastic new facilities and excellent exam grades, without a doubt Mr Holland would say that his greatest achievement was facilitating Hartford High School to become Hartford Church of England High School in 2005, something almost unheard of in today’s society. Mr Holland’s life and faith, his dedication and resilience through the pandemic and personal illness have been an inspiration to all who know him.

Having left permanent footprints on all of our hearts and lives, some of our lovely students decided to do something special to show how much they appreciated him. As such our Ethos Ambassadors, Executive School Council and a few others invited Mr Holland to share with them some of his memoires as Head Teacher. They provided nibbles and a gift and then surprised him with a video they had made. On the video, around 30 students left messages of thanks and appreciation for the man who had showed them such resilience, faith, dedication and care through their time at Hartford.

I am sure you will join us all in wishing Mr Holland a very long and happy retirement.

We now begin a new era in the life of Hartford Church of England High School under the leadership of our new Head Teacher, Mrs Rachel Pickerill. We look forward to all that God will continue to do under her leadership and ask that you uphold her in your prayers as she moves the school forward. I am sure she will introduce herself to you all before the end of this school year!