Before he has taken a single step, a student comes sprinting across the grass and throws herself around his legs, hugging him tightly.

“I don’t want you to go, Mr Davidson,” she says, fighting back tears in a scene reminiscent of a youngster on their first day at school, desperately clinging onto their mother’s leg.

She’s not the only one.

Several more students rush to hug their beloved principal, until it gets to a point where they had almost formed a line to have their turn.

Later, in his office, John admits he came close to tears himself.

“I thought I was going to lose it a few times, but there it is,” he says, pointing to a poster on the wall, listing the school’s core values.

“We’re always teaching the kids to be resilient, so I might as well model the behaviour,” he laughs.

If he had shed a few tears, you wouldn’t have blamed him.

After a farewell assembly that had included a rousing rendition of ‘Mr Davidson’, a parody version of the Simon & Garfunkel hit, ‘Mrs Robinson’, and gifts including a new tree for his Kiah orchid and scrapbook bearing his own caricature on the front cover, John says he was overwhelmed.

School learning support officer Carol Ahern and Year 6 student Sam West perform a tribute song for Mr Davidson

“Leaving these kids and these teachers, that’s going to be the hardest part of all.

“The wonderful thing about teaching is that it’s a human industry.

“You have the opportunity to interrelate with the kids and to see them grow and develop into great adults and great Australians.

“You know that you’re shaping their lives, because after parents and family members, teachers are the most influential people that kids relate to.”

Friday represents the end of John’s 34-year teaching career – the last nine years of which have been spent as principal of Eden Public School.

Eight different schools have given him a broad range to choose from, but he’s in no doubt as to which school is his favourite.

“I’ve been in schools where maybe the academic results are better and maybe they spend less time managing student wellbeing, but the thing about Eden Public School is that we know what we’re doing here is life-changing for these kids,” he says.

“Rising to that challenge and doing what we can to meet that goal of making them better adults and better Australians is what has made this appointment exceptionally worthwhile.

“It’s been rewarding both personally and professionally to work with these kids, these teachers and this community.

“I’m hugely proud of where I leave this school; we’ve introduced a number of innovative programs over the last nine years, which I’m sure will continue.

“Schools exist for kids, and our central priority is making sure that physically, socially, emotionally and academically, they’re provided with the best that we can, and that they achieve the optimum outcomes.

“I think public education is an especially wonderful thing.

“It’s the institution that provides us with our national values, because it’s inclusive and we accept all children irrespective of the colour of their skin, their cultural background, whether or not they’ve got disabilities, or if they’re rich or poor.”

Retirement signals a new chapter in John’s life, but he’s starting that chapter right where he is.

Since arriving in the area, he’s never wanted to be anywhere else.

“I first came to Eden with my family when I was six years old, but I didn’t come back here until the mid-90s.

“We were looking for a place to spend a holiday, and I said to my wife, ‘Let’s go down and have a look at Eden’, so we booked a couple of weeks at Quarantine Bay and had a ball, and kept on coming back.

“We were working at Broken Hill at that stage, and we were going home and stopped for lunch at Braidwood.

“I happened to see a Raine & Horne brochure, and in it was the block at Kiah that we own now, so I went home and rang David Ward, who was running one of the real estate agencies at this stage, and said, ‘We’re coming back at Christmas, if it’s still available then, I’ll put down a deposit’.

“It was still there, so we did, and now it’s the place where we’ll spend the rest of our lives.

“Two of my daughters have got husbands and partners here, I’ve got grandchildren here – we’ve got no plans to leave Eden.

“It’s a wonderful spot to be.”

And your message to the students, John?

“There isn’t one person in front of me who I’m not pleased with, who hasn’t tried their best,” he said at his final assembly on Friday.

“So keep doing it, give everything your best and keep a smile on your face.

“I’ve been at this school for nine years, which is longer than I’ve ever been at any school.

“I’ve stayed here because the town is special, and it’s special because of you, because of your brothers and sisters that have come here before you and because of your whole families.

“So thank you Eden, for the last nine years.”