Primary school pupils at Bridgetown in Stratford cheer Manjit’s dedication

IT was top secret stuff when an unsung hero at Bridgetown Primary was recognised with a national award for her services to the school community.

Manjit Nahal has been a lead lunchtime supervisor at Bridgetown since 2014 and has recently won a coveted award when she became a silver winner of the National Pearson Teaching awards which are given to those who go above and beyond to make sure the whole educational experience is a memorable one.

Headteacher Jane Tailby said: “Manjit absolutely deserves it. She comes in during the school holidays and paints the school and she’s not paid to do so. She helps out in a crisis and has helped out with the plumbing. Manjit is very humble and self-effacing and didn’t want to leave her lunchtime role when we made the presentation and she even asked “who’s going to cover for me?” We talked with children and staff for their experiences with Manjit which helped us with the testimonials we put forward for the award.”

Manjit had no idea she was receiving the award and became tearful when it happened because everything was kept secret until that moment during lunch break when the announcement was made.