A BURNHAM teacher has been honoured for her work helping students engage with world issues and organising their own events.

Ormiston Rivers Academy is celebrating the success of Religious Education teacher Melissa Marable, who has been awarded the Chairman’s Social Action award sponsored by the Ormiston Trust, having been whittled down from hundreds of nominations from 36 academies.

The Ormiston Academies Trust’s annual awards have been running for four years, recognising and celebrating the achievements of exceptional students and teachers from across the OAT network in the UK.

Ms Marable’s work at Ormiston Rivers see her go above and beyond to extend students’ understanding and appreciation of social values and empathy for others.

She uses her teaching of R.E. and Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development to engage the children in social issues, successfully involved them across all year groups in several projects to deepen their involvement, expand their knowledge and to make a difference to the lives of others.

Ms Marable introduced and successfully ran the initiative “Get Up Stand Up”, which involves students making presentations, hosting assemblies, newsletters and running various fund-raising events to raise the profile of a particular issue. As a result of her dedication, Ms Marable has inspired the students to carry out further research on their own.

Joan Costello, head teacher at Ormiston Rivers, said: “Melissa is an outstanding individual and an integral member of our school community.

“She is a real credit to Ormiston Rivers Academy and OAT, and we are delighted that her achievements have been recognised with this award.”