Harrow Way Community School’s Elaine Escritt is Hampshire’s Netball Teacher of the Year 2015 and winner of the South Region Teacher of the Year Award 2015.
Elaine will now represent the South at the prestigious England Netball National Goalden Globe Awards which will be held in September.
The Goalden Globes recognise the outstanding contribution volunteers make to the sport of netball. The celebration begins at County level moving onto Regional level culminating in a national awards evening. Elaine will join nominees hoping to take home the netball honours for the 11 categories which include the Grassroots Coach Award, Outstanding Netball Club Award and the all-important Teacher Award.
Elaine was nominated by her colleague Jane Tunney who has supported Elaine with the running of the school’s Netball Club and netballing activities. Jane has seen, first hand, the commitment and time Elaine dedicates to the sport and supporting her students. Jane comments: “Elaine has been a champion of netball for three decades and is an inspiration to her students which sees many, with her encouragement, also play at club level. There is an entire squad of students from Harrow Way playing in the Andover and District League and there are many former students still either playing or just retired who were also taught and inspired by Elaine.”
This season, as always, Harrow Way entered full netball squads across all year groups in the schools league and tournaments winning many matches and with significant success such as the year 8 squad winning both the league and tournament. The players are already looking forward to training starting again in September as they are missing their weekly play.
Jane concludes: “Irrespective of age or student ability Elaine makes a positive impact – from working with and promoting the game to Year 6 students transitioning to secondary school, encouraging her own students to ‘have a go’ at a sport they have never thought of trying, to organising trips to the world renowned sporting facilities at Bath University to encourage students to be ambitious in their learning – Elaine does it all. She is fully deserving of her awards of Hampshire Netball Teacher of the Year and the South Region Teacher of the Year.”
For more information on Harrow Way Community School, please call 01264 364533 or visit www.harroway.hants.sch.uk. Visits to the school by appointment are always welcome.
