Beloved Brisbane teacher retiring after 41-year career given guard of honour farewell

A retiring Brisbane teacher who spent 41 years dedicated to educating future generations has arrived to a guard of honour stretching hundreds of metres on his final day of work.

He is the Brisbane teacher known for his signature red shirt and blue shorts, and regularly reading The Courier-Mail newspaper to his students, but the time has come for him to retire.

Peter Beadle, 60, dedicated 41 years to educating the next generation, including spending the past 32 at Wilston State School.

He walks to work every day from his Enoggera home – a five-kilometre journey that takes him 35-40 minutes and past several students’ homes.

On Friday, he arrived to a guard of honour stretching more than 250 metres, made by current students and staff, as well as past students who returned to wish him well.

Peter Beadle spent 30 minutes on Friday morning greeting and thanking everyone who came to the school oval for his farewell. Photo: Tara Croser.

“I was honoured, I was scared. I wanted to meet everyone because they had made a lot of effort to come and see me,” he said.

Mr Beadle started his career teaching at Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast, before moving to Nanango – where he met his wife, followed by Rosedale on the central coast, before returning to Brisbane and teaching at Kallangur, and ending his career at Wilston.

“Children are just beautiful,” he said.

“They’ve all got their own needs, they’ve all got their own desires, and it’s just really satisfying being with kids and leading them on their journey through life.”

Mr Beadle with two of his final students – Phoebe Hillstone, 12, and Noah Anderson, 11. Photo: Tara Croser.

Mr Beadle said one of the best parts of his job was seeing or hearing about the successes of past students, especially “the tricky ones”.

“Everyday was a joy. But there’s moments, kids can be a little bit tricky, but working out a strategy to deal with that is challenging,” he said.

“I’ve had some tricky kids, but they have seen the year out and I like to think the rapport I have with those kids is pretty good.

“Some of the kids in the tunnel of love (Friday’s guard of honour) were tricky kids.”

Mr Beadle wants to spend more time with his grandkids, elderly parents and elderly in-laws.

In addition to caring for his elderly family members, Mr Beadle hopes to do plenty of travelling with his wife in retirement. Photo: Tara Croser.

He described coming to his teaching job as “a bit of a rest” after regularly spending his weekends running around after his or his wife’s parents, or their grandchildren.

“I’m actually starting to teach the children of children that I have taught, and I want to leave before someone says I taught their grandparents,” he said.

So, after more than four decades in the job, what lesson will Mr Beadle take into retirement?

“To look after one another, be with each other, and guide and help each other. Being a teacher is a very caring profession, a lot of what I’ve learned is to care for other people.”

On Friday, Queensland state schools farewelled students for the summer holidays.