Two long-standing members of staff who both made significant contributions to a North Lakes village school have said goodbye to pupils and colleagues.
Head of school Karen Roberts and senior teaching assistant Janet Etherden have retired from their roles at Braithwaite CE Primary School after each giving more than 20 years service.
Executive headteacher Jo Laker paid tribute to the pair and thanked them for the contributions they have made to the school community.
“Mrs Roberts had a particular interest in history and made sure all the children in the school learned about the significance of Remembrance Day,” said Ms Laker.
“She had also researched the names on the local war memorials. She is hoping to spend her retirement enjoying time in her camper van and learning to paint in watercolours.
“Mrs Etherden is looking forward to having more time to spend with her grandchildren, in her garden and walking her dog.”
The new headteacher is Kate Davis who has arrived from a large primary school in Dorset.
She said: “I am blown away by the facilities and offer here,” she said. “With weekly forest school lessons for all year groups, delivered by accredited forest school leaders, swimming lessons for all year groups and small class sizes, all give children a high level of adult attention.
“I am quickly coming to realise this makes Braithwaite a very special and unique place to go to school. I am looking forward to getting to know and become part of the local community and I would welcome any visitors to come and have a tour with our wonderful school council reps.”
The school council reps have been newly-elected after being voted for by their peers.
The children had to put their names forward to be considered, prepare and give a speech to their classes and then the whole school held a ballot,” said Ms Davis.
“I am very much looking forward to working with this group and listening to their views and ideas about how we can make the school even better and then putting their ideas into action. Our first project will be revamping the library.”
