Teacher of the Year

Local teacher Claire Lawrenson, in her fourth year at St Malachy’s School, Collyhurst, recently won the Guardian Award for Teacher of the Year for the north west. She was nominated by governors and parents from the school. They sent in her nomination together with samples of work produced by the children in her class, and this ensured that Claire got through to the next round. At this stage, the judges visited the school and talked to Claire’s head teacher, the children she teaches and their parents. They also met her teacher colleagues, as well as Claire herself. They were impressed. To her surprise Claire found she’d won the prize for the whole of the north west! This brought £500 for St Malachy’s, presented on TV by Gordon Burns of BBC Northwest.

Claire travels down to the Millennium Dome in November with other finalists, in a bid to gain the national prize of £3,000 and become the National Teacher of the Year! You can see some of her children’s work on page 13 in Kids Stuff.