A RETIRING nursery teacher is swapping her classroom in North Yorkshire for one on the other side of the world.

Kay Davies, 58, from Norton, near Malton, will take a step into the unknown next month when she flies out to the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

She is not sure what the conditions will be like, and may end up sharing a room with a group of gap year students, but is looking forward to the challenge.

Mrs Davies has taught in Ryedale on and off for the last 32 years. She retired from teaching nursery children at Malton Primary School last month, but details of her trip have not yet been finalised.

"It is all up in the air at the moment," she said. "I don't really know anything yet.

"I just know it is the right thing to do, so I am not unduly worried."

Mrs Davies is a member of the Ryedale branch of the Elim Pentecostal Church and found out about the school in Cambodia when her husband, David, returned from the annual Elim Conference last Easter.

Handwritten signs had been placed around the conference, appealing for teachers to go out there to help Elim missionaries Neville and Kay Walker, who are working in Phnom Penh.

They have helped to set up a daycare facility, primary school and a language centre. There are 11 children at the daycare centre and 100 in the primary school.

Mrs Davies said: "I will be giving input into the established daycare centre, training the Khmer nationals in childcare and giving oversight into the general running of the key stage one department in the primary school.

"The school has been established by doctors and nurses so that they can afford to have their children educated.

"They give so much time, so when I go over there, that will allow them to do their jobs.

"I have always had a love of Cambodia and a desire to go on a field mission. David, however, has not, but thinks it would be a good opportunity for me to get this Third World living out of my system."

After qualifying as a teacher, she spent a year in Cambridge and four years in Germany, working for the British Forces Education Service.

She arrived in Norton in April 1973 and worked at Norton Primary School, initially for just one term.

During that term, Mrs Davies' contract was made permanent and she was asked to set up a nursery in a pre-fabricated building at the far end of the playground.

She worked at three other schools in the area, before starting at Malton Primary in 1989.

Headteacher Paul Scrimshaw said she would be missed.

"Mrs Davies is one of the most wonderful teachers I have ever been privileged to work with," he said.

"The children love her, and her kindness and compassion she has shown to hundreds of anxious parents, concerned about their children's start in education, is second to none.

"We all wish her well for the future."

Mrs Davies will fly out to Cambodia early next month for six months.