A FORMER North Berwick High School pupil who returned to take the helm as headteacher more than 30 years later has paid tribute to its strong community.

Lauren Rodger steps down as the headteacher of the school when term ends this Friday after eight years in the top position.

And she praised the school community for keeping going through Covid-19 as they faced the toughest 16 months yet.

She said: “The resilience of our young people is sometimes underestimated. They were quite matter of fact and just got on with it.

“The school community has coped incredibly well and that was down to the communications we had with parents and their ability to get in touch with us.

“We had guidance and support staff who were in contact with families every single week.

“The strength of the community was extraordinary throughout.”

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Mrs Rodger admits she never thought as a young pupil in the early 1970s that she would run the school one day.

But she credits the pull of the community and the school itself for bringing people back to the North Berwick  area and keeping them there.

She said: “Starting first year, thinking back, I would not have imagined I would come back as a teacher, never mind be headteacher.

“People stay in this community or come back to it because it is a lovely place to live and some families even come back for the school itself.

“There is a strong sense of community in North Berwick, and our surrounding cluster villages, which draws people here and makes the school a special place.”

Mrs Rodger credits her old English teachers Douglas Stenhouse and Grace Taylor for inspiring a love of literature and language in her senior years which saw her gain a place at the University of Aberdeen to study English.

But she says at that stage she had no plans to teach. Instead, she focused on raising her family, travelling with her husband’s work to live in Kent and then Lancashire.

It was a fascination in watching her own children develop which sparked an interest in teaching and saw her become a teacher at St Margaret’s School, Edinburgh, after her family returned to East Lothian.

And, in 2006, she found herself back at her old school as depute headteacher for seven years before becoming headteacher.

There, she found herself educating children and grandchildren of her own classmates.

Now, as she prepares for retirement, she admits to some sadness that the pandemic means a quiet farewell for her and colleagues who are stepping down this year.

She said: “I am really sad that we could not have that relaxed time away from the school building for a leaving do. It is not just me: we are saying goodbye to a number of staff and it is not the same over a screen.

“However, I do think we have learned a lot about remote learning during this time and it is going to be beneficial moving forward as we look at what works well and how we can use it in the future.”

Michelle Moore, a former depute headteacher at North Berwick High School, will succeed Mrs Rodger following the summer break. 

Ms Moore is currently a quality improvement officer with City of Edinburgh Council, a post she has held for over four years.