Hamilton primary head is named teacher of the year

Jun 16 2011 by Alastair McNeill, Hamilton Advertiser

A HAMILTON teacher’s work in bringing learning to life has been recognised with a coveted national award.

Christine Emmett, of St Elizabeth’s Primary School, has won the Teacher of the Year title in the Scottish Education Awards 2011.

She was presented with the gong at Glasgow’s Hilton Hotel earlier this week in front of an audience of 500 people.

Christine will now go through to the UK final which will be held in London in October.

The 50-year-old, who has taught at St Elizabeth’s for 27 years, said this week she was delighted at taking the Scottish title and commented: “It’s a great award to win, but I’m pleased for the school and the community.

“It’s their award too. They have supported me all the way and I don’t want to lose sight of that.

“To be honest I’m glad the bright lights of the ceremony are over. It’s great to be back teaching the children in the classroom. They are the first priority.”

The primary five and six teacher was nominated for the award by grateful P5 pupil Martin Smith.

Christine’s aim is to make learning fun and relevant to the outside world.

Her teaching methods have been praised for cultivating life skills for children.

They have involved a local cake shop owner coming into class to help children learn about weights and measurements while making cup cakes while a salesman from a car showroom helped with a maths lesson by using a brochure to find out the price of a car by the model, interior finish, colour and wheels.

Christine also runs the school’s eco committee and has helped the school gain its fourth green flag.

She even organises school Fairtrade events.

Martin Smith, who nominated Christine, said in his form: “Mrs Emmett helps us during lunch breaks and after school if we are struggling and gives our parents advice on how to help us. She makes us believe we can do something, even if we don’t think we can.”