A South Canterbury primary school teacher is ringing the final bell on a 52-year career.
Heather Hinton has dedicated her life to teaching, beginning Teacher’s College at age 16 and now, at 71, stepping out of the classroom for the last time tomorrow .
Mrs Hinton said she started her teaching career at Ashburton Borough School when she was 19.
‘‘Those children were only 10 years behind me in age, so they are now celebrating their 62nd birthdays.
‘‘Then I went to Tinwald School and I taught standard 1— my first year was teaching standard 4 which is [now] year 6.
‘‘I found I wasn’t really a junior teacher.
‘‘We had inspectors that came to the school and the intermediate in Ashburton had just started, so they suggested I apply for that.’’
She said she then began teaching year 7s at Ashburton Intermediate, fell in love with teaching that age group and did so for the rest of her career.
Mrs Hinton then ended up in Timaru — first teaching at Waimataitai Primary School for five years, then as a senior teacher/leader at Marchwiel School (now Oceanview Heights) for 10 years before heading to Gleniti School, where she has remained for the last 17 years.
She said she always knew she wanted to be a teacher.
‘‘I taught my dolls when I was a preschooler.
‘‘Later my dad built this wee play hut and in it we had school desks and a blackboard, we had all the gear so I taught my sisters.
‘‘I had that passion way back, I loved it, I said I’d either be a teacher or a doctor but teaching was my forte.’’
Teaching was her happy place, she said.
‘‘You just shut the door and there’s nothing else that will come in there except your teaching and your love for the children.
‘‘I love the fact that that relationship with the children and the kindness and caring that we have is reciprocal and I teach them all those good basic values in life.’’
Technology was one of biggest changes throughout her time as a teacher, she said.
‘‘I remember the first computers in the classroom.
‘‘I can’t even remember the names of the different kind of computers because it’s gone so fast.
‘‘We used to have banders with ink and you’d roll your worksheets, then it went to printing out on computers which were quite fuzzy for a start and then it went better and better and now it’s super fast.
‘‘Now the children are bringing their own devices to school but I do like a balance, I still have my books and I still have their marking.’’
Despite technology and curriculum changes she said the kids were an ever-constant.
‘‘They haven’t changed.
‘‘I find that with the time I have spent over all these years, the children are still just children.
‘‘They’re still just beautiful kids who still need boundaries and still need someone to care for them.
‘‘My children go to TTEC and they go on the bus on Fridays and I just love it when they just say, ‘I love you, Mrs Hinton’, as they take off.
‘‘That’s the relationship I have with these children.’’
She encouraged those passionate about teaching to go for it.
‘‘Teaching is a wonderful career, no matter what’s happening around us, we still need those teachers.
‘‘If you love it, you go for it.
‘‘You know you’re going to have the difficult times but you’re also going to have these wonderful times, it’s part of life, it’s a fantastic, fantastic vocation.
She said it would be hard to say goodbye to the job.
‘‘The passion is still there, I love my teaching and I’m sort of a bit sad to finish.
‘‘I’ll probably still be waking up at 6am ready to come into school out of habit, but I know it’s time for me at my age because I’m 71 and a-half.
‘‘I will probably come back and do a wee bit of relieving next year in this school for the older children.
‘‘Fifty-two years later here I am, hanging up the whistle, clearing out the gear and I just have been blessed to be able to have that opportunity to be teaching for that length of time.
‘‘I will really miss it.’’
