40 year career comes to an end for Paxton Nursery head

But the biggest change of all? The retiral of headteacher Heather Pozzi, who has been at the helm of the Methil facility for 20 years.

It brings to an end a 40 year career for Heather, who first started at Fair Isle Primary School in Kirkcaldy in 1976.

Heather admits she has mixed emotions about leaving the profession which she has put “her every breath” into since graduating from Edinburgh University.

“I hate to think how many kids I’ve taught over the years!” she laughs, “but I will miss it.”

After leaving Fair Isle to have a family, Heather returned on a supply basis, working at Kinglassie Primary School, as well as Kirkcaldy Tecnhical College, working with early years officers.

“I actually visited Paxton way back then so it’s strange to think this is where I am all these years later,” she said.

She worked at Leslie Primary School for a short time before joining Dunearn Primary for seven years, working in both the primary and nursery section. She completed her post-grad in early years education and also qualified to teach P6-7 German, before taking on an acting depute role.

She also worked for a short time at Glenrothes Primary School South Parks, before joining the team at Paxton as headteacher, a role she has held for two decades.

She says a lot has changed since then. “When I first came here, it was very much open plan so there was a lot of renovation to be done.

“We have a great outdoor space as we do a lot of gardening and work in the environment. We do lots of excursions to get the kids out into the fresh air, and that goes all the way back to when Miss Paxton (who founded the nursery in Lower Methil in 1934) was running things.

“When I joined the nursery I was lucky enough to speak to some of the staff who worked with her back then, and one lady told me that Miss Paxton would fill her car with as many children as she could, take them down the beach and come back for more. She has had a huge impact on me and the nursery and even now, people still come back to thank us for the impact she had.”

Heather says she will miss the busyness of the nursery, the dedicated staff and of course, the children.

“I’ll miss being around them and all their funnies - being able to view life through their eyes.

“There have been 100 students through the doors in my time here too, and I’ll miss that satisfaction of seeing them qualify and seeing my EYOs develop in their careers and go on into teaching.

“You sometimes don’t realise the impact you have on people; it’s nice when they take time to thank you for it.”

So what does she have planned for retirement? Keeping active is top of the list, as she enjoys swimming, walking and skiing, and she’ll be heading down under to visit her children and grandchildren.

“All the kids here have kept me young I think, so that’s now up to my grandchildren!”

If you’d like to say goodbye, drop in on Wednesday, June 29 before 4.30pm.