Anne Mackintosh is planning a trip to Waitangi in February. Photo / File
A giggle comes next as Mackintosh holds up a canvas photo of herself among her male colleagues who performed "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" at the school's recent talent quest.
"I will treasure this, and I am sure it will be a talking point at home," she says.
Next she flicks through the pages of a book filled with photos representing 17 years of memories at the Greerton primary school.
Her finger stops on a photograph of herself and "Aunty Barb", the school's kaiawhina.
"We were both diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time," Mackintosh says as she clutches a greenstone necklace gifted to her from the school after her diagnosis in November 2014.
"Gosh there are just so many memories... But it is not the gifts that you hold in your hands, it is the gifts that you hold in your heart," she says.
"But you don't come into it to get patted on the back or to be self-acclaiming, you come into it to serve kids and to serve their family. Today I feel very proud and so humble. It has been wonderful."
Mackintosh sits in her office one final time and reminisces as she bows out of her 45-year career in education.
Anne Mackintosh, with Kaisa, one of the school's two assistance dogs. Photo / File
Mackintosh walked into her first classroom at Ngongotahā in 1974. She has taught at 14 schools, held four principalships and two deputy principal roles.
In 2004, she was rewarded a Woolf Fisher Fellowship for educational excellence in teaching.
Yesterday was Mackintosh's last day at Greerton Village School after 17 years.
"It is the longest I have spent in any school," she says. "The school gets under your skin and into your very bones and your heart and your soul."
Mackintosh lists the school's Pasifika Festival, hosting the annual Ra Whakangahau kapa haka festival in 2007, GVS Has Got Talent and the playing the tambourine in the staff band as a few of her highlights.
But mostly, it has been the many people she has met and the relationships that she has made over the years.
"It is the kids and the people who I will miss the most," she says.
"I have just been so blessed and so utterly grateful for all of the opportunities I have had and all of the people I have known."
Mackintosh says it has been "one hell of a ride" and now she is on to her next journey.
The New Year has plenty in store for the outgoing principal who is looking forward to her "seven-day weekend".
In February next year, she and three friends are planning a trip to Waitangi for the 180th commemoration of the Treaty of Waitangi and a 10-week bucket list trip with another friend is scheduled in May.
"I am going on a big bucket and doing the things I have always wanted to do - Eastern Europe, a 14-day cruise, England, London, and finishing off in Spain and Portugal," she says.
There will also be her genealogy, reading, gardening and volunteering for the Breast Cancer Trust to keep her busy.
Anne Mackintosh back at work again after battling breast cancer. Photo / File
Mackintosh is looking forward to her next adventure and says it is time for her to pass on the reins.
"It is time for me to pass over the mantle and for the school to have fresh eyes and new breath but still keep the lotus of what we are about."
Deputy principal Kimberley Henderson-Ginns will now take on the role as principal and thanks Mackintosh for her guidance.
"She [Mackintosh] has shown me the leader who I want to be," Henderson-Ginns says.
The deputy principal is excited to step into her new role and said the school holds a special place in her heart.
"My children have been through the school and I even met my husband here," she says.
