Parents at the Sacred Heart RC primary school in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire are so grateful to headteacher Tony McDonald they’ve made him our Friday hero, saying thank you with flowers, champagne and chocolates.
When he finally retires this summer aged 63, everyone wants to give him “a huge pat on the back” for the “happiness and success” he has brought Sacred Heart - the most improved Catholic primary school in the country in 2005.
Three and a half years ago it was “spiralling downwards” and perilously close to special measures. Luckily for Sacred Heart, Mr McDonald, a former secondary head and a practising Catholic, agreed to come out of retirement.
In fact it was his second job as a primary head, having just spent two years turning round another Catholic primary in Southend, his home town.
Parent Kate Stent ,who sent the nomination and is a local teacher too, says simply:“He really has saved this school.”
Tell us about the hero in your school. Contact Sarah Bayliss, Friday’s editor. Flowers kindly supplied by Marks and Spencer