Former head's farewell to education after 52 years

A retiring former head teacher said it had been "emotional" hearing from past students across his 52 years in education.

Eric Winstone from Orton Waterville, near Peterborough, first started out as a physical education teacher in his 20s.

He recalled a member of a school's football team not showing up to a game and playing the first half with nobody realising he was their teacher.

"In those days I was still asked for my birth certificate in a pub, so I got away with it," Winstone said.

He went on to become a headteacher of Bushfield Community College in 2001 and oversaw its transition into Ormiston in 2009. He then helped mentor and develop future school leaders.

"I can remember the first computer coming into schools and teachers revolting against technology that was coming in," he recalled.

"Of course, now technology is everything, and it embraces everything that we do and embraces learning."

Winstone received a lifetime achievement award in 2014 for his work in education.

Students who were taught by Winstone had been in contact again after hearing of his retirement.

"The comments have been super and emotional, it's great," he said.

"I don't recognise any of the 5,000 [students] really until they tell me who they are and what year they were at school and then it all clicks in automatically."

Winstone said he would be using his retirement to work as a coach for England Athletics, do housework, spend time with his grandchildren and travel.

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