Outstanding Achievement Award Public Vote

Amy Armstrong-Coates (23) - Sedgefield

Nominated by – Mrs Rana Coates

Teacher Amy Armstrong-Coates never tells her pupils that schooldays are the best days of their lives, because they weren’t for her.

Bored and disengaged in the classroom, she was such a problem pupil that she was put on report in the hope that close supervision would turn things around, and it did.

A change of head teacher and the chance to study drama also helped re-engage Amy with school and she eventually chose to stay in the classroom, becoming an English teacher at Manor College in Hartlepool.

Said Amy, 23 and from Sedgefield: “Fortunately I realised what a mistake I was making in time to scrape together enough GCSEs to continue in education. I think a new head teacher who took an interest in me and the chance to study drama, together with my parents’ encouragement, made me see what opportunities I was wasting.”

Amy recovered her learning drive to gain A levels and a BA Honours degree in English at Leeds Metropolitan University, followed by a post graduate certificate in education at Durham University where she is now also studying towards a masters in education.

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