A STALYBRIDGE school’s headteacher is ready to say goodbye after an astonishing 41 years’ service.
To say much has changed since Lynn Lakner walked into St Raphael’s as Miss Mooney in 1985 is probably an understatement.
She has been there through two millennia, two monarchs, four popes and an astonishing 11 Prime Ministers, including Andy Burnham, by her final day on Wednesday, July 22.
Now she is welcoming the children of pupils she taught into the Huddersfield Road school – thankfully for her, no grandchildren.
But one thing has remained constant, her dedication to giving people the best start in life.
“I’ve not really got my head around it yet,” said Mrs Lakner as she moves out and successor David Matthews moves in – his Oldham Athletic scarf is already in the office.
“I started in September 1985 as a newly qualified teacher. St Raphael’s the only school I’ve taught at and I got the headship in 2019.
“We’ve had a chapel built at the back and had extensions. When I first started, the church next door was still open.
“It closed in 2015, but we were fortunate to get a beautiful chapel built at the back of school. It’s a great asset for school, but as for children and families, they’re just the same.
“The overriding principles are still the same, though, because our ethos here has always been to have happy children who are successful, who are reaching their potential, whatever that might be.
“And we’ve always stayed with our gospel values in school and our ethos of loving everyone and forgiveness, which the children rise to and adapt to.”
She also joked: “That’s why I’m leaving, before a former pupil comes in with their grandchildren!
“That would be weird, but that’s not happened yet. If you were in my first class, though, I suppose it could.”
When Mrs Lakner started at St Raphael’s, the wreckage of the Titanic was discovered and the first ever Super Mario Bros game was released.
The country was still getting over the end of the Miners’ Strike and the Cold War was at its peak, with the fall of the Berlin Wall still four years away.
David Bowie and Mick Jagger were number one in the charts with Dancing in the Street and computers were barely used.
“Things are perhaps different now, because you’ve got all the technology with it,” Mrs Lakner added.
“And there are obvious risks with it, so that has altered.
“We use things like Chromebooks or iPads for a lot of things, but we do a lot of safety as well because children are very trusting.
“We do a lot of safeguarding work – how to use it best, what to be aware of, not sharing passwords, not speaking to people you don’t actually know is a real person.
“And a lot of our children seem to be quite balanced with it. We do a lot of clubs and they things like football, netball, and swimming, so they do seem to have a balance.
“They’re not staring at a screen all the time, because that would be sad.”
Mrs Lakner has taught an FA Cup winner in Rob Holding, who contacted St Raphael’s the day before winning it with Arsenal in 2017 after children wrote him a good luck message.
And that spirit and progress of the thousands of pupils she has seen is the main pleasure.
She told The Correspondent: “It’s been a great privilege and a great joy to teach here for this long, and I’ve had great staff, great clergy, great children and families.
“We’re developing a prayer garden now in the top field, which is nice.
“The millennium was a nice celebration and there have been things like King Charles’ coronation. That was a nice day in school.
“And when a former pupil comes here with their child, I just say, ‘Oh it’s another one.’ There are so many children here now whose parents I taught, which is lovely, because it means you know the families so well.
“It’s just lovely to see how they go. Because I’ve taught the children and they’re parents, you see how they’re doing, which is really nice.
“I just look back on my time with great happiness. It’s been lovely. Lovely families, lovely children, just joyful.”
So now retirement is coming, what does life hold for Lynn Lakner, who lives in Mossley.
Well, she can watch midweek matches involving her beloved Manchester City and not worry about getting up in the morning for a start.
She said: “I think holidays and spending time with family.
“I’ve got a grandson, so we can spend time with him, but if I’m honest, it is a bit daunting.
“You’re used to being busy all the time and the routine,
“And I will miss all the children, the families and the staff, because it’s been a big part of my life.”