Wolverley's star teacher helps students gain top grades

Many of the school’s teachers were “over the moon” with their students results, none more so than award winning religious education teacher, Kerry Poole.

Miss Poole, who won a 2014 Pearson Teaching Award, saw almost half of her 85 pupils achieve either an A* or an A grade.

“It’s brilliant that the students have been able to achieve the top scores,” she said.

"It's amazing and I’m so proud of them because RE is one of those subjects that some students love and for others, not so much, but they’ve all tried really hard.

“One of my students came in and said she wanted to know what she got in RE.

“I told her she had an A* and she started crying. It was amazing.”

Miss Poole said she was more nervous finding out her students GCSE results than she was when she received her own.

“When I got mine I was a bit like ‘I’ll be alright, it doesn’t matter’ but as a teacher you know that GCSEs are the gateway to these kids futures," she said.

“Every teacher, as soon as they get in, is eager to see the results, just to see how our kids have done as everything we do is for them.

“We care about them more than anything else.”

Due to her success as a RE teacher, Miss Poole received a silver teaching award for teacher of the year in a secondary school.

Miss Poole said: “It’s really humbling because you can’t believe that they’ve chosen you over all the over amazing teachers that we have in this school and at schools across the region.

“Secondary school teaching is difficult as the kids are growing up and they have their own agenda, but all you want to do is see them do well.

“It’s very hard work sometimes, but on days like this when the students are coming in and collecting their great grades, far out ways anything else.”

This year’s results at Wolverley CE Secondary School has seen the number of students achieving A* and A grades increase by 45 per cent.

Top performer at the school was Olivia Crannage who received 11 A* grades and two As.