Principal John McKenzie and teacher Jane Hesson will finish on the last day of term on Wednesday.
Mrs Hesson has been with the school since 1988, while Mr McKenzie started in 2007.
Mr McKenzie said he spent about 13 years teaching at Te Kura Taumata o Panguru, a predominantly Maori school in Northland, where most people still spoke te reo.
The experience impacted his perspective on education and culture, so he spent his time as principal trying to support Maori culture within the school.
Before North East Valley, he was principal at St Bernard's School in Wellington for three years.
Mrs Hesson started at the school as one of New Zealand’s first job sharing teachers, along with Judith Evans-Weir.
Together they shared the responsibility and complemented each other’s skill sets well.
She was more into arts and physical education, while Mrs Evans-Weir was stronger at science and math.
They continued working together part-time until Mrs Evans-Weir’s death in 2020.
Since then Mrs Hesson had worked to fill spaces wherever needed at the school.
She spent more than 20 years teaching the school’s flippa ball team.
Mr McKenzie said he thought it would be best to try to have a clean break from the school to allow the new principal to establish themselves in the role.
He was looking forward to spending more time with his family and sleeping in.
He would also try to spend more time helping his wife around the house and repay her for her efforts during his career.
"In a principal’s job it’s often the partner or spouse who picks up the slack."
Mrs Hesson planned to spend time on her vegetable garden, read and visit her family more often.
She lived near another school and could hear the bell ring, so it would take a while to "escape the school routine".
Lee Stream School principal Rachelle Moors will become the new principal at North East Valley Normal School next year.
