Farewell Mr Hammond, Hello Mrs Stanton-Tonner
The end of term saw Lyonsdown School say ‘farewell’ to not only our Year 6 leavers, but also to bid ‘goodbye and good luck’ to our Head, Mr Hammond.
Mr Hammond leaves Lyonsdown to move on to his second Headship at Abercorn School, London. During his Prize Giving Speech he described his thoughts on leaving the wonderful community at Lyonsdown and how “it can sometimes seem hard to fit one’s feelings into words.” His advice, to not only Year 6 leavers, but no doubt to himself too, was “Year 6 – I am sure you will feel a great deal of contrasting emotions: you will miss Lyonsdown, but you are looking forward to the future. Don’t be sad because it happened; the fact you are sad means that your time here was one of wonder and love.”
On the last day of term, Mr Hammond said virtual goodbyes to pupils across the school, visiting Form Time via MS Teams, as well as saying farewell to Nursery children and Key Worker children who were on site too.
“Our collective journey this year at Lyonsdown has been challenging at times, due to COVID-19,” says Mr Hammond. “However, I am proud of the way we have all collaborated and pulled together to continue to make our school a wonderful place to grow.”
The whole Lyonsdown community – staff, parents and pupils – wish Mr Hammond the very best in his new post. We also look forward to Mrs Stanton-Tonner joining the School as our new Head from 1st September 2020. Mrs Stanton-Tonner has already been, virtually, meeting and working with staff over the past term, along with virtually meeting new parents who we will welcome to the Lyonsdown family in September.
Helen joins us from her post as Head at Holland House and she brings a breadth of knowledge and leadership experience to Lyonsdown. As well as teaching across the primary age range for many years, she has also held a variety of roles at different schools during her career. These include Head of Pre-Prep and Nurseries at Swanbourne House, Head of Francis House Prep School, Director of Studies at the Junior School, North London Collegiate and Head of ICT at Thomas’s Kensington.