Describing herself as a "farm girl", Mrs Beetham said she'll miss farm life.
"I had my own dogs and love docking and mustering. Leaving behind the farm and this community to move to the Hawke's Bay is a huge change, but it's now time to spend time with Harvie. I guess we'll be off in the campervan and down every one-way road we can find. Living with Harvie, there is never a dull moment."
Son Charlie is a rescue helicopter pilot in Hawke's Bay and Richard is with Air New Zealand and planning to be based in the Bay too, so Mrs Beetham is looking forward to spending more time with them and her three grandchildren. Grandchild number four is on the way. But, at the moment, daughter Nicola is in Bermuda with sailor-husband Winston Macfarlane, who is with Dean Barker and Team Japan, so it could be a long-haul flight for the Beethams to visit.
In the meantime, it's been time to reflect on a teaching career which included 18 months at Pongaroa School as the school bus driver and teacher.
"Peter Barnett was principal here at Weber and asked me to join the staff. My own children were here and it can be tricky, but they were leaving when I took on the principal's role.
"I've always wanted us to be a team of leaders and have encouraged teachers to try new things. It's shared leadership and I think we've worked well as a team."
With the closure of Motea School, Weber went from two teachers to three.
"Working with children in a merger it's like having your ewes, hoggets and lambs all in one paddock," Mrs Beetham said. "The Motea parents were so positive about the merger though."
But with five schools eventually merging at Weber, there have been challenges.
"It can be very hard to have that community spirit all the time, but our parents are all 100 per cent behind our school. Our reading scheme has been absolutely fabulous. We've even had dads and grandparents reading with children and our writing scheme has been the same - very powerful.
"People such as Brian Hales and Jane Laver contribute so much because they just want to be part of the kids' education. That makes for such a rich learning environment.
"Our 'learning power muscles' approach has been amazing, too, and now kids talk about them all the time. This fits in with our philosophy of how to learn and it turned our school around," Mrs Beetham said.
With one of her favourite books, What's the Point of School, Mrs Beetham said listening, working collaboratively and being resilient has definitely gone beyond the classroom, extended to home and the sports fields.
"Our kids are better learners because they think about how they learn. And of course, these are country kids with a no-fuss attitude. They're out in the playground building forts and bike jumps, with the older kids helping the younger ones."
Weber School teachers Sarah Third and Karen Phelps both agree the team at Weber has been "really great".
"We all laugh, because Chrissie does," Sarah said.
With a number of major building projects at the school, over the years, the latest has been huge, Mrs Beetham said.
"It's very disruptive and like having a baby. You forget about the bad parts in between births. This last project has taken seven months, but the builders became so much part of the fabric of the school, we even roped them in for our staff photo because two staff members were away."
The Beetham name will live on at Weber School with the new classroom officially opened this week called the Beetham Building.
