A TEACHER with a strong family connection to her school has left her post after 22 years.

Julie Humphrey has been a pupil and a teacher at St Augustine's RC Primary, in Darlington. Her mother also taught at the school, and her father and grandmother were pupils when the school was based in Larchfield Street.

The 47-year-old has landed the deputy headteacher job at St Cuthbert's RC Primary, in Hartlepool, and will start after half-term.

She said: "I am really looking forward to it. I've had a fantastic experience at St Augustine's, being both a teacher and a friend, and I'm just hoping I can use all of that experience in my new job.

"There is nowhere like St Augustine's.

"It is a huge, happy, supportive family. I have learned and grown here like all the children I have taught.

"I've had the most incredible amount of fun, which is probably why it's taken so long for me to leave."

St Augustine's headteacher Catherine Crawford said: "She will be missed because she has been an excellent teacher. She always gives her best and has been a vital member of the school community.

"We are all thrilled that she has got this promotion which is very well deserved. Our love and prayers go with her."