Teacher of the Year: Anne Hodgkinson

ANNE HODGKINSON has been nominated for the HSBC-sponsored Teacher of the Year award.

Anne is a learning support assistant at The Base at Amherst Primary.

‘She is a helper to my son, Isaac Woodhead, who has autism and attends The Base at Amherst School. She has looked after Isaac for most of his primary school years and will continue for the next year until he gets to secondary school, when I believe she deservedly plans to retire,’ said nominator Karen Dyke.

‘During lockdown she was totally amazing and was checking his work constantly prior to his class teacher looking at it. She was messaging me several times a day encouraging and praising me for my efforts with the home schooling and just being there for me to rant. 

‘It was a very testing time indeed and she definitely helped to make life easier. She knows Isaac like a grandparent and can read him like a book.

‘The Base is being moved to Forest School in September but we decided to keep Isaac at Amherst for his final year and Anne has agreed to stay and help him and we cannot thank her (and his other helper Michelle Tostevin) enough for agreeing to this. 

‘Being the caring person she is, when she should have already retired, she also has another job doing contacts for separated families. The world would definitely be a better place with more people like Anne and she deserves this award 100%.’