LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

NAME/POSITION – Trish Burns/Assistant Head Teacher

AGE – 56

SCHOOL – Peel Park Primary

BASED – Alice Street, Accrington

NUMBER OF PUPILS – 612 pupils

SCHOOL MISSION/VISION – High expectations, every child, no excuses

THIS year’s winner has spent 35 years in education – most of it at Peel Park Primary. In fact Trish Burns’ life and career is inextricably linked to the Accrington school – her grandparents were educated there, her mum Val Clarke was a teacher there for 32 years and it was the place Trish did her first ever teaching practice.

When she qualified, Trish’s first job was teaching biology at a secondary school, then she had her two children before setting up a nursery in Accrington and doing supply teaching at Peel Park.

Then she went to work at a school in Blackburn, but as she says, “The call of Peel Park was too strong and I came back in 2000 and have been here ever since. It’s the love of my life, alongside my husband of course.”

Her son Paul Burns, already an assistant head teacher at another East Lancashire school at the very young age of 28, nominated his mum for the award, sponsored by UCLan.

He said: “She always has a smile on her face because she literally loves her job. She is admired by all….I have always looked up to my mum and constantly work and strive to be half the teacher that she has become.”

Trish said she cried when she heard about her son’s nomination. “That he thought that much of me, I was so touched,” she said.

Now nearing retirement, Trish said: “It will be strange when I don’t come through those school doors anymore.

“These children are like my second family, I hope I make a positive difference in their lives and install a love of learning.

“I have a passion for learning and I hope they have that too. I just love my job, I love it,” she said.

“There’s never a day when I don’t want to come to work, I don’t always want to get out of bed but it’s never about coming into work. My husband has had to share me all his life.”

Trish is also responsible for the newly qualified teachers and teaching placements at the school.

She said: “I hope I am sharing my knowledge and skills with the teachers of the future and help them become outstanding teachers…which I have seen already and I am so proud of them.”