We’ve put together a collection of sample thank you messages and greetings for principal retirement ceremonies. We’ve provided a variety of examples to help you prepare a touching and classy retirement message to send as you end a long and distinguished career in education.
Principal retirement message
Hello, everyone! It’s the retirement ceremony that never seemed to come, and I don’t know why, but today I woke up not wanting to get out of bed, not wanting to go out, and my whole body ached.
In fact, my wife has been looking forward to this day because she says we’ll be able to spend a lot of time together now. Of course, I’m also excited because I’ll be able to enjoy some time off that I haven’t had in a long time, but I can’t shake the feeling of sadness and nostalgia for our elementary school.
Now that I’m here, my daily life flashes by like a movie. I wanted to be perfect at everything and give it my all. I wanted to be the kind of teacher that my colleagues trusted and felt comfortable with, and I wanted to live a life where my thoughts, words, and actions were always in line.
Do you think my efforts have paid off? When I look back on my 40 years of teaching, I can only say that I have dedicated myself to teaching, I love my students, and I love teaching, and that is what I call my vocation. Every time my students nodded their heads in understanding with a twinkle in their eyes, every time they grew up and asked me to officiate their weddings, every time they thanked me for getting them a job, every time they leaned on me when they were having a hard time, every single one of those moments was precious to me.
It’s sad that I’m leaving the field, but I’ll continue to coach the younger generation after I leave. From the moment I leave the school, I will not say goodbye to the school, but will continue to cherish this relationship.
Of course, I am sure that the next principal will do everything in his power for the school, so my departure is not heavy, but I am saddened by the sadness of farewell and longing for the school.
To the students, faculty, staff, parents, and other guests, I wish you all the best in your homes, and I hope that you will continue to love and care for the school.
Thank you.
Outgoing Elementary School Principal’s Outgoing Remarks
Hello, everyone! This year has been unusually cold. Our area has seen the heaviest snowfall in decades, injuring many people and causing damage to homes and greenhouses. A few days ago, it got down to 10° below zero for several days in a row. It seems that even the cold that was so intense has to give way to the season. Yesterday, it was even warmer during the day, as if it were springtime.
Dear elementary school children, your principal is no longer with us. It is with a heavy heart that I am leaving the school grounds where I have laughed, talked, and played with you every day for ten years. It has been my pleasure to see you in the classroom and on the playground. Your smiles, twinkling eyes, and cheerful expressions have made me love you and be proud of you every time I see you. You are so talented, and I am so proud of you when you go out and win awards both inside and outside of school.
In closing, the principal would like to leave the following words to his beloved children. When we look at the successful people around us, there are so many people who are masters in their own way, and I think this phenomenon will become more and more obvious in the future, which means that it is difficult to survive unless you are an expert in your field. It means that it takes persistent effort to become an expert and master. If you don’t put in any effort and expect good results, you can’t be more foolish than that. Whatever you do, don’t be impatient, work slowly but steadily, and you will grow up to be a great worker for the country.
My dear elementary school children, I love you. Goodbye.
A message from an elementary school principal to her students
Good morning, everyone. Spring, with its freshness, is an eternal blessing, even for an old person like me. Especially here at our elementary school, where I have been tending the flowerbeds with my own hands for many years, even a single white magnolia blossom heralding spring makes my heart flutter. In the midst of this beautiful season, I stood on the podium today for my retirement ceremony.
My inner child often teases me that after 40 years as an elementary school teacher, I still think and act like an elementary school student, and I’m always surprised. Forty years is a long time, a long time that never seems to stop. After 40 years of being a boy, half of a person’s life, I think it’s time to move on.
Even though today is a new day for me personally, I feel very sorry for the junior teachers. There is a poem by Baekbeom Kim Gu that goes something like this.
“When you walk through the snowy field, do not walk dizzily, for these footsteps I have taken today will be a signpost for those who come after!”
In the face of this poem, I am suddenly embarrassed. I’m afraid that every step I’ve taken in elementary education will be remembered by you as a dizzying scattering. It was a time when I strived for the quality improvement of elementary education and true education in the classroom and in the field. Like a delicate flower in a flower bed, I have gone through many nights of fierce and intense worry to nurture the hearts and dreams of children. However, I am afraid that I have not been able to provide you with any tangible milestones or examples in those 40 years, and I am ashamed to say that I have only been self-sufficient.
But, my dear junior teachers. You are many times more ambitious and bright than I am, and I trust that you will be wise enough to take what you can from the footsteps of those who have gone before you and discard what you cannot. I hope that you will learn from the path of education that I have traveled to live today.
Today, I am leaving the field of education, but I believe that just as spring will surely come after winter, so will magnolias, lilies, and all kinds of lush and fragrant flowers bloom in this schoolyard, and the innocent laughter of children will spread like a herald of spring.
I hope that our elementary school, my last school, will become an even more excellent school in the future, a true learning center that encourages children’s dreams and cultivates their character. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone for this undeserved honor.
Thank you at the principal’s retirement ceremony
The heat is still in full swing. I would like to thank all the guests who took time out of their busy schedules to honor me, and I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the faculty, staff, trustees, and parents for their unwavering dedication to our students.
As I listened to the farewell address a moment ago, I struggled to control my emotions. No one can beat the emotions that well up in the face of a tribute such as this, especially when it is delivered in the presence of my esteemed seniors and beloved juniors, at the end of a career to which I have devoted so much of my life and which I believe is my calling.
We sometimes refer to teaching as a ministry. When I entered the teaching profession, it was clear to me that it was, if not a priesthood, at least a profession of faith and respect. For children and parents, the teacher’s word was law, and if you were to ask me today if I would still agree with that statement, I would have to say no. It’s sad to see that over the years, teaching has become a profession that is not only revered, but sometimes criticized and even put on the chopping block. The world is changing, and I suppose it’s inevitable that the profession will change, but I also wonder if we, the older generation, could have done a better job of leaving a better environment for the younger generation.
However, no one would deny that teaching is still an attractive career path, as evidenced by the increasingly competitive entrance exams for colleges of education and teachers’ colleges. It’s still up to you, the teaching profession, to make sure that these elite students get the elite treatment when they enter the profession.
Sometimes I wonder why I chose teaching out of all the careers out there, and what I have gained by choosing teaching. Given my personal circumstances that forced me to go to college for education, I would say that teaching was destiny for me. So what did I get out of choosing teaching?
First of all, the joy of learning while teaching. In order to teach others, I had to constantly learn. Would I have been able to write this retirement letter today on a computer at this age in any other profession, I’m not sure I would say yes.
The young students who looked at me with wide eyes in class always gave me hope, courage, pride, and joy. When I meet friends from my hometown who are in other professions, I still belong to the axis of looking young, and I think it’s not only because of the good health I inherited from my parents, but also because I soaked up the green energy they exuded by hanging out with young people, and when they came to me when they were old enough to be part of society, it was a joy and a reward.
I am now coming to the end of 40 years and six months of teaching, which is often referred to as another beginning. I can’t realize it yet, but it will be another morning of waking up to a new life, and even as I step down from this position, I am constantly reminded of what I can do for young children. I hope to continue to bring the same passion and love to my new work as I have always done.
Thank you again to all of you for joining us. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
Outgoing Elementary School Principal
My dear students! At our school, we regularly practice saying goodbye at the end of August and February. We meet with a piece of paper and part with another piece of paper. You leave the denomination you’ve been a part of all your life, and you leave the nest you’ve built with promotions and transfers.
I feel like it’s time for me to leave the denomination I’ve grown to love for good. It seems like just yesterday that I took my first step into the teaching profession at my elementary school with a hundred-year dream and half excitement and half fear, and now nearly 40 years have passed. Looking back on the past, I think I did my best with the pride of being a teacher, but I feel sad and regretful that I have to leave the teaching profession without leaving behind any significant achievements or memorable teaching.
I was embarrassed when I was a bachelor teacher, when I was embarrassed by the girls who taped a note to my back that said “I’m looking for a girlfriend” and carried it to the staff room without realizing it, and when I used to have class competitions with academic tests, and when I used corporal punishment to make them bleed because their test scores were a little low, I feel ashamed now that I’m leaving.
I think my greatest honor was sharing with you the 100th anniversary celebration of our elementary school. In preparing for the centennial celebration, we demolished three outdoor conventional toilets that we couldn’t even go near because of the foul smell, and demolished the classrooms under the ruined auditorium to make way for a modern cafeteria, which I hope will bring eternal peace and happiness to the hearts of our students.
My dear students, I am fortunate to have completed nearly 40 years of teaching without any major setbacks and to retire with honor, which is only due to the care and help of my teachers, parents, seniors, fellow juniors, and students who have taught and guided me.
In Buddhism, it is said that just touching the collar of a robe is 500 karmic bonds, so it is with a heavy heart that I am about to leave the organization that has become like a family. It was good to have a school that always welcomed me when I entered the school gate in the morning, and it was good to see the angelic appearance of our children who greeted me beautifully with their hands together every day, but now they look at me and tell me to stay no longer and leave this place.
They say it’s time for me to leave now, that if I go now, I’ll never come back, and I’m going to make a new nest wherever there are kind-hearted people, where I can see you all up close and make good friends.
I love you, my students, and I love our elementary school, where I have spent my last passion in teaching. Goodbye. Thank you.
Principal’s retirement ceremony Principal’s farewell speech
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend my retirement ceremony. I’ve been teaching for 40 years, and I’m worried about the future because I don’t know how to do anything but teach.
Dear seniors and juniors, we met in a precious relationship, but one day we will be separated, which is the law of the world and the truth of the universe. As I leave the side of my beloved colleagues, I would like to leave with a light heart, leaving the work that the departing person could not accomplish to the enthusiastic and supportive juniors.
My beloved and cherished junior teacher gave me a farewell speech a while ago, saying that it was unfortunate to say goodbye, but since life is a circle of life, where there is a meeting, there must be a parting, so I will say goodbye without regret, even though my juniors and students are in front of my eyes. I believe that the rest of you will do the best of everything, but I would like to ask you a few things.
First of all, I want you to be teachers who instill dreams and hope in our students. No matter how unlikely a student may seem, if you instill dreams and hope in them, they will see possibilities. I’ve seen it countless times in my long teaching career, and those students actually become more attached to you later on, so please don’t ever dismiss or crush your students’ dreams, because they feed off of them. And secondly, don’t be an embarrassing teacher. Students learn by watching you. Remember that they can learn from both the good and the bad in you, and always try to show them only the right side of you. You’re already doing a good job, but I’m nagging you to do better. I’m going to dismiss my nagging here and sign off.
The second life I have to live now is not lonely because I have my beloved family, relatives, and classmates, and I still have an indomitable spirit of challenge, so I will strive to live a rewarding life without fear. Once again, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to you, my classmates, and sincerely wish you and your families all the happiness and good fortune in the world.
Principal’s retirement message
Hello everyone, I would like to thank all the guests and parents who have come to celebrate my retirement today, when the autumnal equinox has passed and it feels cooler just by saying the word, and the late heat is still in full swing.
There is a saying that everything under the heavens has a beginning and an end, and there is also a saying that is passed down. Yes, it is true. Everything has a beginning and everything has an end, and those who meet once will part ways someday. It is by that reasoning that I stand here today.
I have been teaching over 1,000 students directly for 22 years, and over 4,000 students indirectly for 9 years as an assistant principal and principal, and I have been trying my best to instill dreams in over 5,000 students in total, and I have been working in the education profession for 12 years, and I have been proud to say that I have been living my life with integrity in my field, but when I look back on it now, I feel that I am lacking and regretful.
During my long teaching career of 42 years, I have made connections with many people and received warm love and a lot of help, but I cannot fathom my regret and sorrow that I have left the school without being able to properly reciprocate and with only debts. During my time at this school, I put my last energy into the thought of finishing my 42 years of teaching. As a result, I received warm encouragement and praise from many parents and alumni associations, but sometimes I was misunderstood by some parents and appeared in the media.
However, I didn’t pay attention to such things and worked with full conviction. There are always small side effects to big things, and I refused to do anything that would disturb my conscience as an educator. In the process, classrooms were modernized, which greatly helped improve teaching and learning, and the school’s appearance is being refreshed with environmental improvement projects that are now being finalized.
I believe that the reason why I am being honored today is due to the generous cooperation of the staff, including the vice principal, for which I am always grateful and will never forget. It is thanks to your efforts that I have enjoyed 62 years of life and 42 years of teaching relatively smoothly and happily, and that I am proud to retire today in good health.
Thank you again to our guests and parents for braving the heat today, and thank you to my family for attending my last public event in my hometown.
Finally, to the children of our school, I would like to conclude my farewell remarks by wishing you all the best for the future of our elementary school, which has a long history and tradition, and I look forward to seeing you grow up to become great workers in our hometown and Korea. Thank you.
Example of a principal’s departure speech at a retirement ceremony
Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to thank all the guests, faculty, staff, and students for being here today for my retirement ceremony. It seems like only yesterday that I first arrived at this school and met the young students, and not long ago I was asked to officiate at the marriage of one of my students. Once again, I am amazed to realize that it has been over 30 years. Time seems to fly by so quickly.
Dear children, you are the treasure and pillar of this country, you will lead Korea in the future, and as your principal leaves, there are a few things I would like to say to you. First, I want you to be people who know the joy of small things. A person who doesn’t know the joy of small things and only pursues big joys is probably a person who only wants results without the corresponding effort. My advice is to plan things that you can easily do every day, things that have a clear outcome – not vague, big plans for years down the road, but specific things that you can do in your daily life, right now, and when you have a clear goal, you can mobilize all the energy you have inside of you, and that’s when you become more effective. When you have a clear plan, it’s easier to accomplish things, and that accomplishment brings you more joy. When you have a goal and you experience the joy of accomplishment, you can’t help but enjoy every day of your life. Second, our children should dream big and work to realize those dreams. We need to make plans for our big dreams into concrete things that we can do. We need to think about what we can do, and then we need to persevere and finish the job, no matter how rough and difficult the road is, in order to succeed. There is no success without hard work, so let’s give it our best shot with a “I can do it, I can do it” attitude.
I hope that the children of our elementary school will develop good character and work hard to become people who are filial to their parents, useful to society, and loyal to their country, so that they can shine not only in our elementary school but also in Korea. If you promise to keep the words I said to you, you will be able to leave the school with a light step. I believe you will keep your promise. This concludes my farewell speech. Thank you.
Example principal leaving speech
Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank the steering committee and other steering committee members who have come to light up my last road today, as well as the parent chairman and other parents, and I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the vice principal and other teachers for their hard work in planning and checking everything for months before my retirement, so that we could have such a grand retirement ceremony.
Now, as I leave for the last time, I’d like to say a few words to reflect on 40 years. As I look out the window, I see the students running around energetically. They run and run and run like they don’t care if they fall and bump into things. My heart longs to be among them, but my body just stares at me. As I stand here today, I see a panorama of things that have happened in the years that have passed. Every leaf, straw, and rock on the playground, even the pretty little flowers and weeds in the flowerbeds, have meant something to me.
But perhaps the most meaningful of all were the teachers and children, with whom I spent many years and hours, loving and hating each other, crying and laughing, suffering and despairing, rewarding and exhilarating, but looking back now, they were all beautiful moments of life and a blessing. The only regret I have is that I could have done better, but I’m leaving it all behind.
I’m nervous and worried, but I’m also excited and excited, like I’m about to embark on an unknown road I’ve never traveled before. Let’s face it bravely: for 40 years, as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal, I tried my best to do my best wherever I went, always sitting at my desk and tacking slogans to the walls that said, “If I don’t do it, who will!” and “If not today, when?” and “If not here, where?” and “If not now, where? Luckily, after all these years, I’ve made it through without making any major mistakes, and I couldn’t be happier that I’ve made it to the end of my career. What’s more, I was lucky enough to finish my last year at our elementary school.
Nowadays, whenever I see the principal saying that he is not at ease with this or that in every school, I feel so happy. I am so happy that I have met good teachers and good parents, so I am able to finish my retirement in such a happy way. And I would like to thank all the teachers and parents of our elementary school for the beautiful way I left you for the last time. Thank you very much.
Principal’s short departure message
The calendar says that summer is coming to an end, but its momentum shows no signs of slowing down. As the summer continues to linger on, so do our longings for fall. It’s hard to believe that we’re letting go of summer without a fight, but after all we’ve been through over the past few months, we can’t wait for fall to arrive.
There are times in life when you can’t accept that it’s over, like when it’s too hot to go. There are times when we want to push the end away, but the more we do, the more the beauty of the word “end” fades. Today marks the end of my public service as an educator, and I will leave when I must, if only to preserve the beauty of the word ‘end’.
It seems like only yesterday that I began my life as an educator in 1975 as a classroom teacher, but it’s been 40 years. I always thought that teaching was a heavenly calling, starting from elementary school. I loved taking care of babies from a young age, and even as I grew up, I loved seeing young students. What could be more rewarding and true in the world than instilling dreams in them?
Sometimes I was scolded and scolded by my beloved students, and when they were struggling, I was encouraged and comforted. When I was a regular teacher at a liberal arts high school, I devoted myself to teaching students day and night, and regarded their passing as my reward, and although I was physically tired and exhausted, I was sincerely happy.
Looking back, I realize that it was only thanks to the generous support of the faculty and staff and all the people around me who have always cared for me that I was able to spend 39 years of my long teaching career without any major mistakes and achieve what I have today.
It is true that if the beginning is exciting and beautiful, the end is regrettable and regrettable, and I think it is beautiful to come out of the end of my vocation as a teacher with a lot of regret and regret, but I hope that you are also a beautiful person who knows when to go. This concludes my brief farewell remarks. Thank you.
High School Principal’s Farewell Speech
Good morning, everyone. Today marks the end of my public service as an educator. I would like to bow my head in deep gratitude to all of you who came out in the heat to honor me at my retirement ceremony. It seems like only yesterday that I started my life as an educator as a classroom teacher in 19, but it’s been 20 years.
I always thought that teaching was a heavenly calling, starting from elementary school. I loved taking care of babies from a young age, and even as I grew up, I loved seeing young students. What could be more rewarding and true in the world than instilling dreams in them?
Sometimes I was scolded and scolded by my beloved students, and when they were struggling, I was encouraged and comforted. When I was a regular teacher at a liberal arts high school, I devoted myself to teaching students day and night, and regarded their passing as my reward, and although I was physically tired and exhausted, I was truly happy.
I didn’t want to give up my teaching job because I wanted to keep my students close to me and continue teaching, but the fact that I was a regular teacher hindered me from giving them what they really wanted. I wanted to try to do this, that, and the other for them.
In the three and a half years since I became the principal of this school, I have worked hard to improve the school’s external facilities, such as the construction of the back wing and the improvement of the sports field, in order to provide the best learning conditions for the students. I have also encouraged various circle activities and organized their own festivals so that the students can enjoy their school life.
Studying, of course, is important. But when we grow up, we remember the times we spent hanging out and playing with our friends more than the times we studied, and I wanted to give our students memories that a million dollars couldn’t buy.
Looking back, I realize that my 30 years of teaching, which were lacking in many ways, were not without consequences, and I am grateful that I was able to achieve what I have today only because of the generous support of the faculty and staff and everyone around me who has always cared for me.
If I am granted another life, I will not hesitate to choose teaching again, and now I would like to return to a beautiful and natural person with happy memories of my past teaching career, and spend the rest of my life with my family, watching my students fulfill their roles in society with integrity. I wish our high school all the best for the future and all the best for your future endeavors. Thank you. Farewell.