Farewell to Mrs Jenny Rigby

Today, as we bid farewell to the 2024/25 academic year, we also say goodbye to Mrs Rigby.

Mrs Rigby joined Meadow High School in September 1998, after her husband, who is in the air force, was sent to work at RAF Uxbridge. Mrs Rigby, at the time, was a music teacher in a mainstream school in Wolverhampton and worked as a musician around the school day, playing the cello and piano. Upon following him to Uxbridge, she decided to work in a school for a little while whilst building up her accompanist work as a musician in her new home. That little while has ended up being 28 years!!!

However, it nearly wasn’t that long! In her first week at Meadow High School,
Mrs Rigby, who you may not realise is very scared of spiders, had one thrown at her by a pupil as a ‘joke’. However, in fear, she swung the folder she was carrying and hit the pupil around the head. She promises she was aiming for the spider!!! Her tears and apologies were accepted, and she survived to teach again.

As the school's Music Teacher, Mrs Rigby was well known for her concerts, plays and shows! Often writing and directing the pieces, one even used her elder daughter Megan as Tinkerbell, aged only 4 years old. Many of these involved elaborate costumes, interesting props and there were parts for everyone.
Mrs Rigby was also keen on trips, encouraging pupils to go and see live music and go on overseas trips such as Germany and Austria, making links and stealing the best ideas from a range of schools in both countries. Some of those vocational ideas she has installed at Meadow in recent years.

Mrs Rigby has progressed as Music Teacher, Head of Key Stage 3, co-Deputy Head, Deputy Head and then, finally, 8 years ago, she was appointed as Headteacher. What a time to become the headteacher…........

Back in 2020, Mrs Rigby was headteacher when our school, like all others, had to close due to the Covid pandemic. My personal favourite memories include our scooter one-way system around the corridors, driving around Hillingdon to visit all shielding pupils and families with treats and work packs to check everyone was OK and the taping of two one-meter rulers together to make sure the building was covid safe, and we were all managing to stay the required 2m’s apart. Fortunately, those days are now behind us and the school has continued to grow and grow and grow and grow…..

Mainly this growth was due to the two major building projects, our rebuild and extension on the Royal Lane site we have seen completed, whilst we are still waiting for number three, our Northwood Road site. Mrs Rigby has sat through many hours of meetings to talk about everything from the best toilet flush all the way to layouts, budgets and building designs. She has been instrumental in advocating for the best facilities possible for all pupils and has refused to allow Meadow to expand in pupil numbers without the best possible facilities that all the pupils deserve, such as the specialist teaching, vocational and life skills spaces we have now.

In this time, Mrs Rigby coined a phrase to help all staff focus on the pupils' education and life journeys, thinking about their life beyond Meadow and what the best possible future looks like and what skills and experiences all the young people need to prepare them fully for this.

We wish Mrs Rigby well with her own 'Life beyond Meadow', which will include travelling with her husband Andrew, daughters Megan and Eva and learning lots of languages as she goes! Mrs Rigby is a keen gardener, so she will be looking after her allotment, growing fruits, vegetables and flowers to keep her busy, as well as spending lots of time with her newly born first grandson, Freddie.

All that is left is for us to say how proud we are to have been part of Jenny's team and the difference she has made to the education now and for years to come of the young people in Hillingdon. We wish her a happy retirement! We hope it is filled with love, joy, and everything that makes you happy.