Staff and students at the National Church of England Academy, part of the Diverse Academies Learning Partnership, have been celebrating this week after one of their teachers won a highly coveted award at the Nottingham Post Education Awards 2017.

Miss Jessica Green, who has taught geography at the Hucknall based academy since September 2016, was crowned the Newly and Recently Qualified Teacher of the Year at the awards held on Wednesday 29th November. The award is a fitting testament to the impact that she has had at the academy in a short space of time – indeed the positive contribution Miss Green has had to the humanities faculty at National is evidenced by the fact that two colleagues separately submitted nominations for her to be considered for the award.

Jessica says of the award; “I am very overwhelmed to have won the award. To even make the shortlist was a surprise, and I am very grateful to my wonderful colleagues for nominating me. I have had such support from my fantastic department and faculty, so I want to say a massive thank you to them!”

Upon receiving the award, Miss Green was praised for “showing a maturity and passion for teaching well beyond her years – delivering inspirational lessons and going above and beyond to help students and other staff members. Jessica was instrumental in the planning and delivery of year 11 fieldwork and has taken on the challenge of teaching A-level with great enthusiasm. Jess always goes the extra mile for struggling students, giving up lunch breaks to provide extra support and coming in during holiday time to improve the learning environment for the students. She has even helped other team members to get to grips with using new technology in the classroom with special sessions at faculty meetings.”

Academy principal Martyn Jobling was also effusive in his praise; “Miss Green has quickly become an established and important member of our academy team, commanding respect from students and colleagues. We are delighted and understandably proud that her hard work has been recognised in this manner. She is a delight to work with, has a can-do attitude, and we look forward to seeing her continued development at National Church of England Academy.”