``It's just time,'' Mrs Mervin said.

``Since 1961 there's really only been four and half years where I haven't been teaching in one form or another. I want to go while I'm still on top and able to contribute something meaningful to the school.''

``It's time to give someone else a turn.''

Mrs Mervin, a mother of five and grandmother of 11, said her choice of profession was inspired by the teachers mostly nuns who she met as a student at St Ursula's College, Ashbury.

In 1959, she received a scholarship and began studying for her primary school teaching degree at Newcastle Teachers College.

She started her career at Seven Hills Primary School in 1961 and later moved to Our Lady of the Rosary in 1980.

``I was teaching year 1 and 2 students with special needs when the head office seconded me to start in the special education unit that was being set up in Parramatta Diocese,'' Mrs Mervin said.

``That was something I really enjoyed. It was so rewarding to work with children, some of who were disabled, so we could get them into mainstream classes.''

Mrs Mervin later helped to establish a special education resource centre at St Michael's, Blacktown South, and also served as president of the Sydney branch of the Australian Association of Special Education.

She returned to Our Lady of the Rosary in 2001.

``I've found my time here very fulfilling,'' she said. ``It's a lovely warm community and it's a school where people work together.''

She said the introduction of information technology, interactive whiteboards and wireless computers meant that teaching had evolved from students reading about China to using the internet to talk to someone in a Chinese classroom.

``It's about instant knowledge,'' she said. ``Children really get to experience and learn about life 24/7 and that develops a love of learning. It is this love that will sustain you and challenge you, not marks or qualifications.

``So many jobs these students will have haven't even been invented yet. So it's not about having good answers, but about asking the right questions to get the right answers.''