GERARD Mowbray doesn't use the word retirement when he talks about changing gears after nearly 50 years in Catholic education.
"The notion of retirement is about putting your feet up, it's moving into a passive phase of your life and I think I'm moving into what I think will be a busy, exciting phase of life," Mr Mowbray said.
He has been visiting schools to "express my gratitude for the work that educators do", before he finishes on December 23 as director of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.
A Mass will be held for him at 4.30pm on Tuesday December 6 at Sacred Heart Cathedral Hamilton.
Mr Mowbray said he was looking forward to more family time - with wife Liz, their five children and seven grandchildren - and trips to Fiji and Italy.
He will also take 45 diocese teachers and leaders on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in September.
"It's been an incredibly painful decision, because I love what I do," he said.
"But I've gone hard without a break for 46 years so I feel like it's time now to say 'Okay there are other parts of life that need their appropriate time'."
But he isn't leaving Catholic education entirely.
He hopes to do some consultancy work and write a book.
"[I've been thinking about] what practical wisdom can I pass on to leaders about what a high quality Catholic school looks like," he said.
"I'm particularly interested in building strong community, strong culture."
Mr Mowbray studied a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Education at the University of Newcastle.
He was 22 and one of the first three male teachers to join the then all-girls St Mary's Catholic College Gateshead- which was run by nuns - in 1977.
"I very quickly fell in love with the notion of working with young people," he said.
"Early on I was very passionate about the teaching of history and English, but then I came fairly early on to realise that I was teaching young people, so the subject was not actually the really important thing.
"What we do as teachers is we are there shaping young men and women. I became so conscious I wasn't just teaching them for when they were at school, I was hopefully shaping what sort of person they become."
He moved to St Anne's High School Adamstown and became an assistant principal aged 29, working at St Joseph's High School Aberdeen, St Clare's High School Taree and San Clemente High School Mayfield.
He was principal at St Paul's Catholic College Booragul and All Saints College St Mary's Campus Maitland.
He became Catholic Schools Office assistant director in 2009 and director in 2019 in the hopes of making a broader impact.
He said he had seen an improvement in how schools supported Indigenous students, gifted students and those with a range of disabilities, learning needs and mental health needs.
He said there had also been changes in how schools addressed student behaviour, as well as in the nature of learning and learning spaces.
"What we're really teaching young people [now] is a skillset for their future, so the nature of being a problem solver, a creative thinker, a collaborator... what hasn't changed is the centrality of the relationship between teacher and student.
"Kids never forget the care and respect and love they felt on behalf of a teacher... the most important thing we give them is a sense of their self worth."
Mr Mowbray said addressing historic allegations of sexual abuse in diocese schools had been "one of the most painful" challenges in his role.
"What I often say to staff is 'We have to be conscious of that past so that the mechanisms we put in place to ensure our young people are safe are understood'," he said.
"At the centre of our own wellbeing policy is the importance and power of student voice.
"The culture that allowed abuse to occur was very much around an unquestioned acceptance of authority and that is thankfully long gone."
Mr Mowbray's tenure at the top has spanned COVID-19, the opening of Catherine McAuley Catholic College at Medowie, an organisational restructure and plans for All Saints College Maitland's two campuses to move to one site no later than 2026 and Newcastle's three high schools to start in 2024 to transition to years seven to 12.
"It's been challenging but I know it's grounded in really solid educational wisdom that the continuum of learning across stages four, five and six is really important."
He said he wanted to see the unique "culture and community" at senior campuses duplicated within all schools.
He said the diocese's schools were growing by two per cent per year and the diocese had a "sharp eye on where are the needs".
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