THREE teachers will be saying a fond farewell after dedicating nearly 100 years of service to Malton School.

David Ewing, Jenny Johnston and Carol Peters will be leaving the secondary school at the end of the term – marking the end of an era for staff, students and the whole community.

Geography and physical education master Mr Ewing joined the newly-formed comprehensive back in 1971 – a year which also saw the outbreak of the Vietnam War and The Rolling Stones topping the charts.

Over the next 37 years he took on more responsibility becoming a senior teacher in 1979 and head of sixth form in 1988 – a post he held for the next 20 years.

Speaking ahead of their departure, headteacher Rob Williams paid tribute to the hard work of all three dedicated members of staff.

He said: “David is a legendary figure within the local community and the last of the original members of staff.

“The sixth form is one of the outstanding parts of the school, which was backed up by a recent Ofsted report, and both David and Carol have been critical to this success.

“It will be a massive loss to the school for all three of these experienced teachers to leave.

“On the other hand, good people are coming through and this will give them a chance for them to emerge.” Also bowing out will be former pupil Carol Peters who joined the staff team back in 1982 and was made assistant head of sixth form seven years ago.

The dedicated maths teacher will retire at the end of the term and with it bring to an end her long involvement with the school.

She said: “I’m sad to be leaving and obviously the school has been such a massive part of my life. I have enjoyed working with the young people and I still keep in touch with many of my former students.”

The third part of the trio Jenny Johnston has helped special needs students since 1976 and taught religious education and English part-time for the past eight years.

She said she is looking forward to her forthcoming retirement and tackling her garden.

“Teaching has been so very rewarding but it’s now time for a change,” she said.

“I’ve been here for 32 years and by now the gardening definitely needs sorting out.”

Next year will see massive changes at the school and post-16 education across all four Ryedale secondary schools.

In September David Ewing will be replaced by Ian Martin as he takes up the post of director of the sixth form partnership at Lady Lumley’s, Malton School, Ryedale School and Norton College.