PIONEERING and popular teacher Steve James is leaving for pastures new.

After 18 years teaching young people with learning difficulties at Wyvern School in Weymouth, Steve is ready for a new challenge.

He has been instrumental building links between mainstream and special schools and led the successful bid for a state-of-the-art new Wyvern School which opened on the Wey Valley campus in 2007.

Steve now plans to work abroad as a volunteer – as well as relax and have fun.

Steve, 59, who is married to Shirley and has two children, still considers Dorset home and will be returning frequently in his campervan.

He said: “My working life in education has been a privileged one.

“I have been privileged to work with some great colleagues as well as really wonderful special young people and children from mainstream schools who showed enormous commitment and affection for our special children.

“I also feel privileged to have made a small contribution in a change of attitudes with greatly increased levels of inclusion and tolerance from others towards people with learning difficulties.”

Steve, who grew up in Bristol, had a series of jobs, including civil servant and tyre salesman, before finding his calling in his mid-20s, inspired by a former girlfriend who worked with special needs children.

After training and working at a school in the city, Steve and his wife decided they wanted to raise their children in a rual area and moved to Dorset ‘for a few years’. That was 22 years ago and they’ve been here ever since.

Steve first worked at Mountjoy School in Bridport before moving to Weymouth, and Wyvern.

He spearheaded projects with mainstream schools, including summer schemes and residentials.

Steve said: “The most significant development was the weekend activities on Dartmoor we devised with Wey Valley through teacher Andy Dukes.”

He has taken voluntary redundancy and is preparing to spend some leisure time in Alicante, Spain, before going to work unpaid in a mainstream school with a special unit. This will be followed by a stint in Rennes, France.

Steve said: “The work I’ll be doing is connected with what I’ve done here but from a different angle. A whole set of horizons have been opened up.”