Decades of teaching almost over

Tahuna Intermediate deputy principal Keith Hutton and pupils (from left) Emilia Haszard (13), Libby Hayday-Smith (12), Madeleine Gray (11), Kaya Reese (12), Oscar Te Morenga-Wakelin (12) and Ethan Smith (13) with some of the ODT Extra! quiz trophies they
Tahuna Intermediate deputy principal Keith Hutton and pupils (from left) Emilia Haszard (13), Libby Hayday-Smith (12), Madeleine Gray (11), Kaya Reese (12), Oscar Te Morenga-Wakelin (12) and Ethan Smith (13) with some of the ODT Extra! quiz trophies they have won recently. Photo by Linda Robertson.
Keith Hutton is viewing his impending retirement with ''a blend of anxiety and excitement''.

The Tahuna Intermediate deputy principal turns 65 today and will call it quits at the end of the school year, but as yet, he has no definite plans for his retirement.

''There's a blend of anxiety and excitement - anxiety, because when you've given more than 40 years' service, and then you just all of a sudden stop, it's hard.

''I'd like to do something part-time - whether that be a bit of fruit-picking, landscaping, stacking shelves, a bit of relief teaching - I'm just going to see what comes up.

''I couldn't just stop and sit in my armchair.''

Mr Hutton has taught for the past 43 years at Macandrew Bay School; Dunedin North Intermediate; Maori Hill School; Vincent Primary School in Queensland, Australia; and more recently, Tahuna Intermediate.

He has been at Tahuna Intermediate for 35 years, about 20 of them as deputy principal, and says he is most proud of the work he has done with pupils in the school's gifted and talented programme.

''I've always had a great interest in children who are on the gifted and talented spectrum.

''The highlight for me has been seeing kids click, when they get something, when they finally put it all together and just get it right.

''And then of course, the consequences of that are top efforts. It doesn't matter whether they are showing me something they've made at technology, whether it's a good result at [a quiz], it doesn't matter.

''Kids who do really well give me a real buzz.''

Mr Hutton said he had had a particular interest in keeping gifted and talented pupils interested, challenged and engaged in education.

One of the ways he has achieved it is by entering them in competitions such as the University of Otago Classics Quiz, the Kids' Literature Quiz, the New Zealand Post Book Challenge, the ODT Extra! Spelling Quiz and the ODT Extra! Current Affairs Quiz.

''This year was a really good year for us. For the first time, we've won all five of the competitions.

''We've been to the New Zealand Kids' Lit Quiz several times, and we are the only school in Otago to have won the national final.

''It's the kids that do it, but it's something that I'm really proud of.''

He does a lot of work with budding athletes.

''I crack the whip. I want results. I want them to do well and I know that they are the most satisfied when they've done their best.

''Everyone goes on about doing it and enjoying it being the most important thing, but it's amazing how much enjoyment you get out of it when you win something or get second or you do your personal best.

''If you give them little goals along the way, the kids just keep going. It makes it fun for them.''

Mr Hutton said he would be sad when it came time to leave and would miss the relationships he had forged with pupils and staff.

However, he is looking forward to spending more time with family, doing some reading, training for Masters Games athletics, and travelling overseas.

He said his wife (also a teacher) was not yet ready to retire, so much of his day would be spent keeping the house tidy and cooking dinner.

''I would also like to master fly fishing - but don't say that, because that's old-people stuff.''

john.lewis@odt.co.nz

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