Rayleigh's MP Mark Francois recently visited Wyburns Primary School and took the opportunity to wish its long-serving head teacher, Mr Mervyn Pocock, a happy retirement. Mark had visited the school at the request of some of the pupils in Mr Stone's class, who asked him to come in and discuss his job as an MP and some topical issues, ranging from animal welfare and climate change to the war in Afghanistan.
As well as visiting Mr Stone's class in order to do this, Mark also attended morning assembly, where he thanked Mr Pocock in front of parents, staff and pupils for his long and dedicated service to the school.
Mervyn Pocock first joined the school as a Deputy Head before moving on to a school in Tilbury but he then returned to be Head at Wyburns in 1990, a post he has held for twenty years.
Speaking about his visit to the school and its popular outgoing head, Mark Francois said:
""Mervyn Pocock has been a very popular head teacher at Wyburns School and he was one of the first head teachers I met when I was first elected as MP for Rayleigh back in 2001. He has given twenty years of service to Wyburns and been a very successful head, such that many people will be very sorry to see him go. I was glad to be able to visit the school prior to him moving on and I would like to wish him all the best for what I hope will be a very happy and no doubt very active retirement.""