A BURNLEY teacher who has travelled the world during a career spanning almost 30 years is set to retire.

Janet Smith started her first job on her 21st birthday and is now calling time on her career as she turns 57.

Janet will retire at the end of this term after working at Wellfield Primary School for 20 years, as deputy headteacher and, for the past six months, acting headteacher.

She said: "When I started my first teaching post at Ashton-Under-Lyne it was my 21st birthday and it was the best birthday present anyone could have ever given me. Now 26 years later I'm giving myself another birthday present and retiring."

She qualified as a teacher in Newcastle and after three years at Ashton-Under-Lyne she moved on to work with the Services Children's Authority for 14 years in far flung destinations like Malta, Cyprus and the Far East.

But she was soon returned to East Lancashire. And she revealed it wasn't a difficult decision to take up the job at Wellfield.

She said: "When I was about 37 I decided it was time to settle down back home and I applied for a few jobs.

"But as soon as I walked through the door at Wellfield I knew I wanted to work here. It just seemed like an amazing school."

However, she admitted the school had changed dramatically over the years.

She said: "From a very small four class school we are now a really thriving school. There were just 80 kids when I started, now we've got just over 200.

"We were the proverbial church mice and had to resource our reception class from things brought in from jumble sales."

Miss Smith has overseen the implementation of the new national curriculum as well as efforts to boost literacy and numeracy and two successful Ofsted reports.

She confessed she would miss dealing with the children, although she said she was looking forward to spending more time reading, walking and working with the Samaritans.

And she said she would be very busy baby-sitting because both her nieces were pregnant.

She said: "I'll really miss the children, the daily contact with them and the wonderful things they say."