A DALE headteacher is retiring this month after 32 years at the same school.
Kathryn Hetherington has only ever worked at one school during her teaching career – Cockfield Primary School – and says she was destined to enter the profession from an early age.
She said: “I always wanted to be a teacher. Many in my family are teachers – both my mam and dad were teachers, although they were at secondary schools.
Ms Hetherington was so determined to realise her dream that she volunteered at her local primary school in Howden-le-Wear ahead of studying at Sunderland University.
After completing her degree, she accepted a post as a reception teacher at Cockfield in 1988.
She said: “I have taught virtually every year group since then.”
She spent several years as deputy head before taking charge of the school in 2012.
During that time teaching has been transformed.
Ms Hetherington said: “There have been lots of changes with the curriculum and the teachers’ workload. There is a lot more pressure on teachers.
“Teachers have to spend a lot more time thinking of ways to engage the children, like going on trips to broaden their horizons and trying to give them different experiences.”
A highlight of her career came when the school was ranked in the top one per cent of the country for reading, and achieved the same for mathematics the next year.
Her interest in ensuring pupils have good access to sport resulted in the school winning a mini World Cup and the school football league several times.
Ms Hetherington is particularly proud of how the school is a part of the community by inviting people into the school for events such as a Christmas fair and by taking part in events in the village such as the annual Christingle.
The school also designed and made a mining banner for the village which was blessed at the church. She said: “We have a very good relationship with the community. I have a very good relationship with the parents too because I taught a lot of them – when you see them now as mums with their children here at the school it is lovely.
“I will miss the children and the funny little stories they tell you all the time. They love coming to school. When they came back [after Covid lockdown] their faces lit up. They missed school. They are happy even though they work hard.”
In her retirement Ms Hetherington hopes to travel more, particularly to Europe, and to do more photography and gardening. She also plans to visit the school often for the Christingle and other events.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
