AS a young child, Sally Whittet told her mum that she would be a teacher at Muirkirk Primary.

That ambition was not only achieved, it was exceeded as she returned to her home village as headteacher 10 years ago.

She stepped down last week, with one of her last duties an appropriate one as she joined a group of pupils to accept a presentation of Scottish dictionaries from a community group.

Ms Whittet said: “We have been well supported by the Muirkirk Enterprise Group (MEG) all the time I have been here, as well as many others.

“The school has worked well with them all and, with a small community, the school has always played a big part.”

Last Friday was a day of mixed emotions for the outgoing head as she reflected on almost 40 years as a teacher.

“I left Craigie College and started at Shortlees Primary in 1978, then Silverwood and Broomlands PS before coling to Muirkirk.

“It felt strange as both sides of my family came from Muirkirk and I had lived there until I was two-years-old.

“But my grandparents still stayed there and I was a regular visitor and spent my summer holidays in the village.

“One day I was walking past the primary school and I said to my mum that I would be a teacher there one day.

“I never thought it would be as head teacher though.”

On her first day a pupil sat beside her in the dining hall and said: “I am related to you in a far off way” before explaining why.

Muirkirk Primary has, and still remains a meeting place for various groups in the new revamped building.

In the last building, however, the groups would pass through the school en route to their room which led to one memorable moment for Ms Whittett.

“A member of the knitting group told me she used to nurse me as a baby.

“That just sums up the school — it is one big family,” she said.