On Thursday evening, I went to St Peter’s Church of England Primary School, Leeds for Key Stage 2 Nativity play. It was like a swan song. Since December 2001 when my eldest daughter was in Reception Class, a family tradition began with my wife and I joining the congregational carols followed by photographs, mince pies and coffee at Christmas.
“St. Peter’s” is an inner-city school, established in 1812 and situated in the top 10% of most deprived communities in England. Fifteen years after our first Nativity play attendance, there are now pupils from thirty or more countries in the school, many of whom speak English as a second language. White Brits are now a minority. Despite the significant demographic changes, the deprivation index in the host community is unchanged.
It is however a different world within the school premises. In the school prospectus, Mrs E.J. Holiday, the Headteacher (who happens to know all children in the school by name) states, “Our motto is ‘We Care’ and everything we do is based around these two words.” That sums it up. A short list of the school’s awards includes the following: Ofsted Outstanding, Stephen Lawrence Award, Youth Sports Trust Award, British Council International School Award, Investors in People, Leeds Inclusive School, Basic Skills Agency Quality Mark, Healthy Schools Award… the list is endless. I am an eyewitness to fifteen years of care that has produced excellent, well-grounded daughters. When Mr Woodhead, the former Head Teacher retired, I thought the high standards of the school would falter. Thankfully, Mrs Holiday has taken the school to even greater heights.
Though children of all faiths are embraced, there is no ambiguity that St Peter’s (as the name implies) is a Christian school with each school day featuring an act of Christian worship. Over the years, I have seen a whole school approach to an enviable partnership between teachers, pupils and parents.
So, I watched my daughter play in the steel pan group for the last time and sang the congregational carols with gusto. Finally, the school song brought one long chapter of our family life to a rapturous finale: You are my brother, You are my friend. You are my sister, Our love should never end. Whatever colour, Our skin or our hair, Let us live together. This is our pray’r. Lift your banners high! Work for justice and for peace. Lift your banners high! May our friendship never cease. Lift your banners high! We will sing in ev’ry land. Lift your banners high! For in Jesus’ name we stand (Lyrics from Sheila Wilsons’s ‘Hosanna Rock’)
This Christmas, my last Nativity play at St Peter’s has taught me vital life lessons:
1. If St Peter’s which is located in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of England can sustain a culture of excellence spanning several decades, there is no reason why poverty should be an excuse for failure. I can be anything I want to be if I put in my best at all times.
2. The steel pans sounded so much better with the different parts playing together. The whole is still greater than the sum of the parts and together everyone achieves more
3. Some children have passed through St Peter’s but not lifted their banners high. Along the line these children or their parents may have made choices around school attendance, home work, family dynamics, etc. which adversely affected them. The choices I make today are the building blocks of my future
4. In a politically correct world that appears to leave the substance to chase shadows, I must stand up for what I believe and be counted, to defend my faith and do the best I can for everyone that comes my way
5. Every beginning has an end. The music fades. The light goes out. The curtains fall. Primary school gives way to High School. My last baby becomes a young woman. It means I’m growing old. Time to update my business plan.
Abiye Hector-Goma
Partner, Allerton Medical Centre, Leeds, U.K.
