A BUDDING teacher who helped transform the nursery facilities at Leamington College has been named Student of the Year.
Grace Elliot helped to transform the college nursery and raise vital funds for a children’s charity on her way to scooping the accolade.
The 17-year-old also received the title of early years student of the year and is now set to embark on a journey to become a special educational needs and disability teacher.
The eighth annual further education student awards ceremony was held at the Royal Pump Rooms.
More than 200 people, including students, staff, parents and guardians, attended the event – with students from Leamington College and Warwick Trident College, honoured.
Grace has completed a two-year level 3 early years course with the college and leaves a lasting impact on its early years facilities.
During her course, Grace took a lead role in redesigning the college nursery and sought donations from local businesses in Warwickshire to support the project.
While in her first year at the college, she also led on a fundraising project for Molly Ollys Wishes which raised funds to enable a child to enjoy a playdate.
Grace is now planning to attend Sheffield Hallam University to study to be a teacher, specialising in SEND and working with children with autism.
She said: “It was a huge shock to win Student of the Year. I knew I was nominated for something, but not the main award. It feels nice to be appreciated in this way.
“Early years is something I’ve always been interested in, so when I saw this course I knew I wanted to follow it up. I’m not a traditional learner, I prefer to be hands-on with assignments and exams. I knew the support would be there for me at the college.
“I really enjoyed getting the chance to redesign the nursery, which was something I took on at the end of my first year. We had support from local businesses and now it is much more child friendly and it has been amazing to see children playing in the new nursery in recent months.”
