A beloved nursery assistant is leaving Horrabridge Primary School after ten years’ service.

Clare Wardle is sad to leave the nursery because she will miss everyone, especially the children.

Her career highlights are daily – every time she says goodbye to a child at the end of the school day, having seen them make tiny steps in their development.

But what sticks out in her mind is a performance on the school field by Mad Dog Mcrea, the high energy Plymouth folk band, a few years ago.

Clare said: “It was amazing. it wasn’t the full band, but the singer Michael Mathieson and his wife who plays the fiddle. It was a one-off for the school, we haven’t anything like it before. Only the school staff and pupils were invited. It was to mark a royal occasion, but effectively a thank-you from Michael and his wife to the school because their daughter came here. Everyone enjoyed it and had a dance. It was fantastic and got everyone going.”

Clare is leaving her part-time role to start up a business Home Maid, expanding her cleaning job to offer older and housebound people more services, such as gardening and shopping.

She said: “It’ll be sad to leave at the end of term. I’ll miss the children, parents and staff. I really love working here. Nursery is all about children’s first steps and first learning. They learn without realising through play and activity. For me every day is special because I see progress with every child. It’s about very little steps, like when you have a child with little language, and they say their first words or the child who had a tantrum and you manage to calm them down they start joining in and talking to us. That is great progress and is why I do the job.”