The retiring headteacher of an Eden village school has said her legacy needs to be “a thriving, successful school at the heart of the community”.
Greta Ellis, aged 57, has dedicated more than a quarter of a century of her working life to Kirkoswald School — serving for the past 17 years as its headteacher.
For Mrs Ellis, the school is the “living beating heart of the village — nurturing the younger generations to be the community champions of the future”.
She began at Kirkoswald School, teaching Year 2 children, as a relatively newly qualified teacher back in 1998, under the leadership of Sue Fox.
After her retirement, later that year and the appointment of Helen Armstrong, she became the Year 5/6 teacher.
“To put this into context, the Year 6 children I taught then are now 36 years old,” said Mrs Ellis, who added that she had also taught several children of her former pupils.
Born in Hartlepool, Mrs Ellis has lived in Cumbria since she was three years old and moved to Ainstable with her parents, Margaret and Stuart Wilson, at the age of 10, where they ran an outdoor education facility, called the Eden Valley Centre.
Mrs Ellis, who lives at Lazonby with her husband, Matt, a director of the Derwent Hill outdoor centre at Portinscale, near Keswick, attended High Hesket School before going to William Howard School at Brampton. She then studied for a geography degree at York.
In 1995-96, she did a postgraduate certificate in education at Charlotte Mason College, Ambleside, after her children, Joe Ellis and Laura Jenkinson, had started school.
“When I arrived at Kirkoswald School all those years ago, I quickly realised that the school was a very special place to work and decided to bring my own children here,” she said. “We then moved to the village so that they could live alongside their friends. The welcome I received both personally and professionally was remarkable and we soon established our lives within the community.
“And what a community it is – support offered in bucket loads, a real pride in all that the village has to offer,” said Mrs Ellis.
She added that it had been an “absolute honour” to have been the headteacher and she leaves the school — which has been rated good in its last four Ofsted inspections — in a strong financial position with a surplus budget and staff it can afford.
“My legacy needs to be a thriving, successful school at the heart of Kirkoswald and that it is safeguarded for future generations of children,” said Mrs Ellis, who added that she knows she leaves the school in the safe hands of an “amazing staff team” who were all committed and dedicated.
Taking the reins as part of an interim headship, which starts in January, are Mrs Jane Armstrong and Ms Catherine Reding.
