LODERS School has said goodbye to its headteacher after 28 years.

Mike Kite got into the profession in the late 1960s and said that what kept him there all these years was the buzz of seeing young minds fulfilled.

When Mr Kite, 64, began teaching he said it was a struggle for the first year until he got a job with an inspirational head.

He said: “I never looked back after that.

“The buzz is the kids, always, nothing else matters.

“It is the ‘chemical kick’ of seeing children making progress – there is nothing like it.”

Although over the years teaching has given way to administration.

He said: “Over the course of the last 30 years the balance has shifted completely and headteachers have very little contact with the children.”

But there are some compensations. He has enjoyed the challenge of managing the school’s budget and enjoys anything to do with information technology.

“But I have lost patience with some of the aspects which I think of as waffle and management speak. My aim at the waste paper basket has become impeccable.”

Then there are the changes epitomised with the curriculum, SATS and Ofsted, not all of which are for the better, he said. But despite it all he would do it again in a heartbeat.

“I have loved the job and I feel proud of what I have done here.

“It would be really nice to go back to the beginning and start all over again but preferably with the knowledge I have now.”

Retiring won’t be seeing Mr Kite watching day time television.

He is passionate about orienteering and can see a future working with schools to do things related with it.

For the past two years Mr Kite has been job sharing with Shirley Gibbs who will take over full time from September.