The former GS teachers are practically celebrities at the special needs school where they have notched up 33 years of teaching between them.

Mrs Amos finished up in May after 22 years and is casual teaching in the area, while Mrs Gibson retired at the end of term three after 11 years.

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NVI caught up with the pair and discovered at the heart of it all is a love for the students and the school team.

The pair says "all kids can achieve" and every child has unique gifts to give and the school played an important role in helping the students develop life skills and gain independence.

Mrs Gibson said the challenge lay in finding "the key to be able to unlock their learning".

"What motivates the child is really the key to ... connecting with kids ... what their love is," she said.

For some students it is music, drama or hands-on activities.

Mrs Amos was pivotal in introducing music and performance at the school and said she discovered talents among them that may have gone unnoticed.

"Music, they can all do it ... it's a matter of unlocking that ability and giving them the opportunity to try things," she said.

"They lean through singing, playing instruments, experimenting ... there's no right and wrong; we can all create different sounds and sounds are in effect, music."

Mrs Amos said she had seen not only their abilities but also their confidence grow, and said they had "great gifts to contribute".

With encouragement and plenty of practice, they became a regular fixture at the Gunnedah Eisteddfod and Schools Spectacular, guaranteed to receive thunderous applause.

"Our kids love to perform," Mrs Amos said.

"The joy ... They're totally confident, they don't care what others think; that's why it's so good for mainstream, to see that these kids are uninhibited but so talented.

"I think it's so important for these kids to be given the opportunities.

"It enriches their lives and I think it helps them relate to the world out there."

The students have also been introduced to gardening, with guidance from Mrs Gibson.

The seed for a sensory garden concept was planted when Mrs Gibson completed A Garden For Life workshop at the Warrumbungle Environmental Education Centre and in 2016, with donations and help from the community and local businesses, sensory elements were added to the established vegetable patches, herbs, and orchard.

The garden allows for cross-curriculum learning and combines the elements of sound, touch and smell as the students read rain gauges, fertilise, water, plant, dig, and collect produce. It also provides a quiet, "calming" environment.

Mrs Gibson started out working with special needs at the Gunnedah High School and "developed a love" for it. She was then approached about helping primary-aged students transition to the school and later made the move to GS.

"I've always loved coming to work," Mrs Gibson said.

"[It's] passion, love of the children and the team, the amazing environment that you get to work in.

"It's really encouraging in the sense that you can see progress [and] the relationships you build with staff and students are the epitome of why you do something.

"It's the outworking and the love of life that comes through participation in things that involve learning."

The teachers said it was a "positive learning environment" and they were "part of the whole wheel".

"It is like a family and they love school," Mrs Gibson said.

"I've seen such compassion come out children, where they love each other and they care about each other and they look after each other and you'd walk a thousand miles for that.

"This is what this school in the past has always thrived on - kids caring for kids - and that's an outworking of what they see the staff doing."

They say relationships are the glue that holds it all together.

"You're building a relationship not with just that child; you've developed in that time, a relationship with the families because you're working hand-in-glove with them because they tell you what's going on at home and you're trying to support them," Mrs Gibson said.

"Life's not easy for parents. so you're not just connecting with the children, you're actually connecting with the community to support them in day-to-day life.

"Our lives are richer because of what we've had."