School’s out after 37 years in same class
In almost four decades at a rural Taranaki school, Tim Morgan has seen a lot of children of former students – including his own grandson.
Today is his last day at Egmont Village School, which has become like a second home, though he will be back to relieve once a week.
‘‘I’ve been in the exact same classroom for the whole 37 years,’’ he said. ‘‘There was a couple of breaks when they were remodelling.
‘‘There are 24 kids here whose parents I taught here in this school.’’
Among them is his daughter, Tamara, and grandson, Joseph.
‘‘I teach my grandson; my daughter I’m her boss.
‘‘I’ve got a little boy in my class whose dad was in my very first class when I came here, and he’s just exactly like his dad. Dad will know who it is when he reads that.’’
Often when his former pupils arrive he won’t have seen them for years.
‘‘They’ll arrive at school and come over and say ‘hi Mr Morgan’ because they still think of me as their teacher. After a while they’ll relax a bit and it’s ‘G’day, Tim, how are you?’.
‘‘It’s quite special in some ways. I’ve had a few parents message and say ‘can you wait another couple of years, Johnny would love to be in your class’.’’
Principal of the 160-roll school Raewyn Rutherford said, in a special assembly, Morgan always had something interesting happening – from digging trenches in the back field so students could experience what the war was like to using a potting wheel.
‘‘He is an amazing teacher who is hard to part with and impossible to forget.
‘‘He has inspired dreams, encouraged creativity, instilled a love of learning, built confidence, planted the seed of knowledge and provided lasting memories for hundreds of children.’’
Morgan said he wanted to be the teacher the kids remembered as adults.
‘‘You’ve got a teacher in your mind that you remember and I’ve tried to be that person.
‘‘I think with teaching, the more you do it the better you get at it. It keeps you young.’’