By Marcus Uhe
Endeavour Hills’ Thomas Mitchell Primary School has bid farewell to their founding Principal, John Hurley, who retired on Friday 11 February.
The school’s founding father was celebrated with a special assembly on Friday morning before the students put on a parade for him with music and presented him with their artwork.
Mr Hurley was touched by the effort put in by all involved in the festivities.
“It was just absolutely spectacular,” Mr Hurley said. “The amount of work that everyone went to make it a lovely day for me was amazing.
“The fact that everyone was so involved in it was absolutely fantastic.”
Mr Hurley said that he knew that there would be a ceremony or celebration of some kind to mark the occasion, but he was pleasantly taken aback by the extent of it, culminating in the afternoon as his staff provided him with a guard of honour as he left the school grounds for the final time.
“It (the guard of honour) made it really difficult to wave goodbye.”
Speaking in the following days after his send-off, the former principal said that he was still coming to terms with being retired.
“I have made no plans yet. I’m still waking-up and thinking, ‘I’ve got to get up to do this and that.’”
