Teacher awaits award news (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Teacher awaits award news

1:00pm Thursday 25th October 2012 in News

TEACHER Jim Thomas will find out this week if he has won a national teaching award and potentially appear on national television.

Woodroffe School’s Mr Thomas has already won the Ted Wragg Award for Lifetime Achievement in the South West in the 2012 Pearson Teaching Awards.

Pupils will once again be rallying their support for the assistant headteacher and head of sixth form as he waits to find out if he has won a national Pearson Teaching Award.

The awards ceremony in London will be broadcast on BBC 2 on Sunday, October 28, at 5.25pm hosted by Clare Balding.

Mr Thomas, who lives in Uplyme, was shocked to receive the regional award at a surprise school assembly in June.

He started at the school as a geography teacher on a one-year temporary contract in 1975, but ended up staying and is now in his 37th year.

Mr Thomas, pictured, has also been head of geography and head of humanities, and has been a member of the RNLI lifeboat crew and is still a volunteer coastguard officer.

He was nominated for the award by former student Ariana Derrett, who said in her nomination: “Mr Thomas has been an incredibly understanding and helpful teacher throughout my two years at sixth form, as well as having an incredible sense of humour.

“He always goes out of his way to accommodate individual needs.

“He is, quite simply, brilliant and definitely deserves a teaching award.”

Show your support for Mr Thomas on Twitter @TeachingAwards #Pearson TeachingAwards #goodluck JamesThomas