Hotspur Hero - Melissa Davies Oliveck

Fri 17 July 2020, 16:21|Tottenham Hotspur

Hotspur Heroes, supported by

For our latest Hotspur Hero, local head teacher Melissa Davies Oliveck, leading a primary school through the pandemic is the biggest challenge she has faced in her career to date.

Since COVID-19 struck, Melissa has seen the role of her Edmonton school extend far beyond educating children to supporting entire families during this extremely difficult time.

“We’re in an area of high deprivation, with many families living on low incomes and some struggling to access food,” she told us.

“As a school, we have always had a pastoral role, but that has really come to the fore over the past few months and we’ve had to come up with more imaginative ways to help.”

Melissa has been working with local organisations like The Felix Project to ensure that families within her school community do not go without.

She explained: “We’ve tried to get food and essentials from wherever we can and target those most in need. We’ve been delivering food parcels, helping with food vouchers and reaching out to provide as much support as possible.”

In addition to keeping school open every day for vulnerable children and children of key workers, including school holidays and bank holidays, Melissa and her staff have gone to great lengths to engage with whole families at home through phone calls, socially distanced visits and more.

She added: “We have loaned out laptops but some of our families don’t have access to the internet and cannot help their children with school work, so it has been really important for us to maintain regular contact and make sure they’re getting on okay.

“We’ve always seen ourselves as a community school, but we’ve really reached out to the whole community during this time and I know from feedback that families appreciate what we’re doing.”

As more children begin to return, Melissa is focussed on creating a safe and supportive environment for both staff and students.

"I couldn't have done any of this without my fantastic team. I feel humbled by my staff because they’re so dedicated, hard-working and supportive. Everything we do is always for our children, and this has never been more evident than over the challenges of the past few months."

We finished by discussing Melissa’s support of Spurs and her fond memories of watching the Club over the years.

She said: “It’s really hard to choose a best memory! Aside from meeting my husband through Spurs when we edited a fanzine together, there’s the 1991 FA Cup Final, European games with my late father, plus I was lucky enough to go to Madrid for the Champions League Final last summer. So many great moments.”