Events, News & Newsletters
The Royal Visit
On Friday 20th June, we were privileged to welcome the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward, to our school. He spent ten minutes walking round the school with Mr Ward, Headteacher, and met some of our students and staff. Before he left, he declared the Macclesfield Learning Zone officially open.
The day began at 7am with the first visit of the day from the police with their sniffer dog. By 11.40, everything was in place. However, there was a minor panic when the Prince surprised us by arriving eight minutes early.
Although the visit had been planned down to the finest detail, His Royal Highness began by breaking from the schedule and speaking to all the support staff in our front office. He then chatted to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the School Council, Emma Ainscow and Jack Berry. Natasha Russell and Ben McManahon held the doors for him as he came into the Main Hall and he had a quick word with them.
The highpoint of his visit was when he came to watch part of a rehearsal for Willy Wonka, our musical production this year. The leads, Collette Black and Poppy Wilkinson, were then presented to him. He also spoke to all the cast and had an extra word for the musicians as he walked off backstage.
Further down the corridor, he dropped in on the Park Lane students in the middle of one of their art lessons. He also stopped to speak with the kitchen staff on the corridor, who had left their lunchtime preparations for a moment. Finally, he spent a few minutes with our three House Captains, Jordan Kenyon, Jess Stubbs and Poppy Wilkinson. He asked them about the way they thought the House system had helped the School this year. As he left, he stopped and chatted to members of the School Council, the Year Councils and some of our Year 7 students.
He then moved to the ECAT building and then on to Park Lane Special School. On returning to the main College building, he met many of the people from the Borough Council and the County Council, including the architects and contractors, who had brought the MLZ to fruition.
After unveiling five plaques which will now be sited in the five buildings which make up the MLZ, he left for the Town Hall. But just before leaving, he met and spoke to a group of twenty primary school pupils from Year 6 – due to start at MHS in September – and some more of our own Year 7 students.
All in all, the visit was a great success. It went very smoothly indeed. This was a fitting culmination to six years of hard work by hundreds of people to create our Macclesfield Learning Zone. A day to be remembered!
23.06.08