WHEN the last child walks off the playground today, retiring headteacher Jenny Hunt will breathe a sigh of relief knowing the primary school she joined in its infancy will be left in safe hands.

After 24 years as a teacher at Hazelmere Junior School, she has come full circle, having been part of the school’s first ever intake of pupils in 1964.

Her newly-married parents had moved from their Berechurch flat in 1961 to one of the first council houses on the Greenstead estate, where her mum still lives, opposite the school, in Hawthorn Avenue.

Jenny’s two children Andrew and Emma, now 32 and 30, were pupils there in the late 1980s, while she voluntarily played the piano for school assemblies and taught a recorder group as a parent helper.

Those years were special.

Jenny, 57, said: “I loved every moment there. The teachers were great and gave lots of support when I needed it, especially in reading as I wasn’t particularly good, but I could read music.

“We say to the children to believe in yourself and head for the stars and I’d like to think I’m proof of that.

“Being brought up on the estate can be a stigma, but it takes an adult to push you to believe in yourself and be better.”

Music training at Colchester Institute years earlier allowed her to teach piano while she brought up her children and she was also a part-time child minder before completing a PGSE aged in her early thirties.

In 1993, Jenny became a newly-qualified teacher at Hazelmere and started her career in Year 3.

Now she can reflect on 10 years as headteacher.

She said: “I always had a connection with the school, even before I went off to do my training year.

“But it was never my ambition to be a deputy or headteacher - I just wanted to be a good class teacher.

“However, the job came up and I knew it was where I wanted to be.

“I didn’t want them to change what we had, so I applied just so we could keep the school going in the same direction.

“We’ve always encouraged children to do their best, aim high and have dreams.

“Our aim is to educate the whole child and not just the academic child.

“It hasn’t always been easy because our children have lots going on in their lives and can become easily distracted from their dreams, but we’ve always sought to keep them focused and offer them the safety in the school.”

Come September, Paula Pemberton will be the new headteacher with Jayne Bond as her deputy.

But this week has been all about celebrating a Hazelmere legend.

The Sweeting Swing Band performed, a surprise assembly was held where pupils sang Jenny’s favourite Abba classics and she’s leaving with a piece of cross stitching completed by every child.

Although she will miss her school family, the future is focussed on devoting time to her own.

She said: “My daughter just had my first grandchild so I’ll have plenty of time with her.

“I’m also looking forward to being a nan and being a daughter to my mum and just being there with family - that’s my ambition.”