FIFTEEN years as headteacher at a Didcot primary school have ‘gone by in a flash’ for David Burrows.

Mr Burrows was appointed headteacher of Ladygrove Park Primary School in September 1998 before the school opened.

The first 120 pupils, aged four to 11, then arrived the following April.

Fifteen years on, the school has 420 children and all of the staff who were at the school when it opened, apart from Mr Burrows, have moved on.

The 59-year-old father-of-one from Wantage, who lives with wife Dorothy and son Alex, 22, said: “My time here at the school really has gone by in a flash and that’s partly due to all the staff changes.

“It's been a great job – the school has changed completely from those early days.

“But the children have always been brilliant and the parents so supportive. That's why I've been there so long.”

Mr Burrows is leaving at the end of the summer term to take up the post of school advisor for Oxfordshire County Council –and Year 6 pupils will join him in leaving for pastures new.

Hope Spencer-Buckel, 11, from Didcot, said: “Mr Burrows has been a really good headteacher — he’s always there for pupils if they need him.

“We are sorry to see him go and wish him luck in his new job.”

Leah Gibson, 11, from Didcot, added: “He has been a lot of help around the school – Mr Burrows is an amazing headteacher.”

Before Mr Burrows moved to the Ladygrove estate primary, he was headteacher at Uffington Primary School near Wantage, and before that he was deputy headteacher at Stockham Primary School in Wantage.

Elaine Li-Koo and Julie Hiddleston, the current deputy headteachers, take over as co-heads for the autumn term before Andrew Markham, currently headteacher at Watlington Primary, moves to Ladygrove in January next year.

Mr Burrows’ last day at the school is July 18 and there will be a staff party at Ardington village hall on July 13.