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Higham Lane School

Higham Lane School

Golden Girl - Miss Charles Scoops Prestigious Teaching Award!

It's official! Higham Lane is home to the best secondary school teacher in the country!

Earlier this year, Romayne Charles, Subject Leader for Modern Ethics, received a Silver Pearson Teaching Award in the `Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School’ category. She picked up her trophy at a celebratory tea held at the House of Commons in July.

As in recent years, the BBC is covering the 2018 awards ceremony and a news crew was dispatched to spend a day in school where Miss Charles was interviewed and recorded at work in the classroom.

They also questioned students and colleagues as to what makes her such an inspirational teacher.

As a Silver award recipient, Miss Charles joined 70 other teachers from around the country at the glitzy UK award ceremony on Sunday (October 21st) where she would be vying for the Gold Pearson Teaching Award in her 10-strong category.

However, a few days prior to the event, the BBC contacted the School and asked if they could return to carry out more filming. Headteacher, Mr Kelly, was let into the secret that Miss Charles was going to receive the prestigious Gold award, and they were coming to film her reaction to hearing the news.

The stage was set! Miss Charles was teaching a class in ME3, with colleagues from the Modern Ethics department also in attendance. A knock on the door was followed by the entrance into the room of pop star, Carol Decker, lead singer with T’Pau, who enjoyed a massive No. 1 hit with their single `China in Your Hand’. She had been specially invited along by the BBC to make the announcement.

Miss Charles’ mouth hit the ground when she saw the celebrity enter the room brandishing the Gold Plato, and the students and teachers erupted in ecstasy upon the realisation that she had been awarded the accolade of `Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School’. Everyone was sworn to secrecy for the next few days.

The trophy was officially handed over to Miss Charles at the annual Pearson Teaching Awards ceremony, held at `The Brewery’, in London, which she attended with her proud father, Andrew, and brother, Richard, who didn’t know she had scooped Gold until the actual event!

A humble, but delighted, Miss Charles, commented: ``This award is testament to what a fantastic school Higham Lane is. I feel privileged to work with such highly-skilled, dedicated and supportive colleagues. In addition to this, I enjoy being in the classroom with the students who make every day of my job exciting and rewarding.

``I would like to take this opportunity to thank them, in particular the students who nominated me, or were interviewed by the judging panel. Although the award is an incredible honour that I feel extremely lucky to receive, hearing the kind words of students has actually been the most rewarding part of the process as often when teaching you do not realise you are making a difference.

``To anyone who is considering a career in teaching, go for it! There is no better profession!’’.

The television programme — `Britain’s Classroom Heroes’ — showcasing this year’s awards, will be screened on BBC2, at 6pm, on Sunday, October 28th.