Mr Ward, after eight years as principal, is leaving the school.

His official retirement date is January 28 and he’s looking forward to the next stage in his life.

All up he had a 39-year career with the NSW Education Department and felt it was time to move on.

He feels Sanctuary Point Public School has advanced in many ways.

“I don’t know that I have done it (the improvements) – I think it has been a great effort from a lot of people who are committed to the kids, the community and the school,” he said.

“The staff here are the best I have ever worked with and met anywhere “

He arrived at a time when funds to move the school forward were available and he helped access the funds.

The retiring educator added around the same time he arrived there was action from the community to put pride back into Sanctuary Point.

“Not only has the school moved forward but the whole area has moved forward,” he said.

“I was quoted by the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as I said to him, when he visited the school, that when I first got here it was a ‘heads down, hoods on’ area and now it’s a ‘hoods off, heads up’ area.

“People are are walking around and saying with pride that ‘I come from Sanctuary Point’.”

Mr Ward would like to be remembered as someone who deeply cared for the children.

Mr Ward had worked overseas in the Middle East as an advisor, had come back to Australia, was appointed principal at Broulee Public School and then the position at Sanctuary Point came up.

The reaction from some people when he accepted the role was not positive.

“When I was appointed my colleagues were like ‘who did you annoy and what have you done to be sentenced to Sanctuary Point?’,” Mr Ward said. 

“It had all the nicknames like Bogan Point and all these really bad names and I was thinking what have I done?

“When I first walked in here the place looked quite a lot different than it does now and I met a couple of people and I just felt like I was at home.

“I absolutely loved every minute of the time here and overall it has been a great end to my career.”

Mrs Ward’s 39-year career included stints as a teacher, deputy principal and principal.

His first school was Lake Heights Public School as a 21-year-old.

He remembers standing up in front of a class of students for the first time.

“It was scary as hell,” he said.

“I walked in and it was a year five/six class and I was thinking ‘I don’t what I am doing’.

“I did not know how to mark a roll or anything like that.

“Back at university and teachers’ college in those days you learnt a lot of the theory and all that stuff, but the actually practical on the ground stuff – I did not have a clue.”

He was pretty much thrown in the deep end and left to his own devices.

“I remember the principal walked me to the classroom and said ‘here is a cane, use it at your discretion’ and that was my orientation to the school,” he said

“I did not know where the library was or anything but I had a cane.”

He was not big on using the cane.

“I did use it (the cane) twice in my career, way back then,” he said

“I got the cane a lot when I was a kid at school and I thought it was overused then.

“It did not change behavior – it just did not work.

“A lot of people think bring back the cane and it will work. It doesn’t.”

The cane aside, he understands discipline is important and did not shirk this side of the role.

“I think if you are fair, show you understand and make sure the consequences are fair and even then I think we all can respect that,” the retiring principal said.

Teaching was always going to be his career path.

“For as long as I can remember I always wanted to be a teacher – I just wanted to be a teacher,” he said.

Mrt Ward was more into mutual respect and relationships than corporal punishment.

“Teaching is all about relationships especially now even more so than when I began,” he said.

“When I started 30 odd years ago there was a thing called positional authority and as a teacher you were respected no matter who you were or what you did. Because you were a teacher, a police officer or a nurse you had a position of respect but that is gone.

“You now have to get in there and earn respect and the easiest way is to be yourself and care for the kids you're teaching.”

Mr Ward thinks he did build up a sense of mutual respect with his students.

“It's something I really believe in and focused on right from when I started work,” he said.

He said the sense of mutual respect must have worked because he keeps in close contact on Facebook with quite a few students from the early 1980s.

He also likes to catch up with the ex-Sanctuary Point Public School students.

“I had one young fellow recently come in and tell me he got himself an apprentice chef job and so often in what we do we don't see those kind of end results,” he said.

“That was really gratifying to think this young man despite everything he has been through or whatever happened he is succeeding and he thought enough of us to come back and tell us about it. That was really good.”

Mr Ward watched as many changes took place in schools and remembered printing worksheets with a jelly pad, something you see now in a museum.

The former principal said technology and the way teachers teach were among the changes he witnessed.

“So we should change because the kids and the world is a very different place than it was 30-40 years ago,” he said.

Bullying, with the increase in social media, is something he thinks has to be monitored.

“Now these mean kids are in your bedroom or wherever you have an electronic device all the time and you can't escape it,” he said.

The Education Department has not got a replacement for Mr Ward as yet.

The position can't be advertised until he officially retires on January 28.

A department head asked Mr Ward about what type of person he believes needs to take over.

“This is a large and complex school and we will have seven support classes this year for children with all sorts of emotional, physical and social disabilities,” he said.

“It would be really good to get someone better than me.

“It will have to be someone who has an understanding of the mechanics to run this sort of school.”

Deputy principal Belinda Doyle will fill in and Mr Ward said the school was in good hands.

“I said at my final assembly that I am now happy to walk away knowing that my kids are going to be well looked after,” he said.

He will do lots of travelling with his wife Ann in retirement and will live in the Vincentia area.