"You're here to serve the community and do whatever you can for these children."

After almost 25 years at the helm, Evelyn Davies is stepping down as headteacher at Coldfall Primary in Muswell Hill this week.

Looking back at her time at the school, Evelyn says she is proud of the school she is leaving behind.

She initially planned to step down in 2020, but stayed on to make sure her staff and pupils would make it through the pandemic in good shape.

She told this newspaper: "I have never had a dull moment. I have never had a day where I've woke up and ever thought I didn't want to come in to school.

"After starting at Coldfall in I always thought I'd be hear a few years and move on.

"After five years I thought I might move on but actually at that time the council thought it would expand the school. And then even before we were full as a two-form entry school, it was decided to expand again.

"I think every year between about 1998 and 2011 we had extra pupils.

"And then we had become a teaching school - and it really cheers my heart to train the next generation of teachers."

Evelyn, who said she walked to school from her home in Barnet every morning during lockdown, said she is pleased to be leaving the school in safe hands - with green issues and caring for others inspired by the Ubuntu philosophy of southern Africa at the heart of the curriculum.

She said she is also hugely proud of the school's work with the charity Educaid in Sierra Leone.

One Year 4 pupil, Sammy, paid tribute, saying: "She uses her eyes to look over us and she sees the potential in all of us. She has built everything we enjoy at Coldfall and she’s put the spirit of Ubuntu into each one of us."

Ewan Marshall, the school's deputy headteacher, said Evelyn was "a remarkable leader who has had a remarkable impact on so many people" adding: "She is completely devoted to her work and has always put what is best for the children at the heart of everything that is done at Coldfall."