Featherstone students nominated John Andrews

An Ealing teacher and St John Ambulance volunteer who trains year 9 students in life saving skills, has been shortlisted for the prestigious BBC Teacher of the Year awards.

Pupils at Featherstone School in Southall nominated John Andrews, 30, who is the Lead Health and Social Care Teacher in the category of Secondary School teacher of the year.

Finalists were selected from over 20,000 nominations made this year and John joins a list of exceptional teachers who are the stars of the education profession.

John has a life-long passion for health and life-saving skills, born from his early years as a ten year old cadet in Belfast which continued through to his training as a nurse and subsequent teaching career. Throughout this time John has continued his volunteering for St John Ambulance and has passed on his skills or hundreds of school children.

John is delighted to be nominated and hopes to use this to bring the issue of life saving skills to the fore for schools.

"I think every child should be taught life saving skills," says John. "It's so rewarding when the pupils tell me ‘Sir, I saved my little brother’s life yesterday after he was choking’, or ‘I phoned an ambulance and made sure the person stayed still until an ambulance came’."

Teachers interested in following in John’s footsteps can sign up to St John Ambulance’s latest schools training scheme:

Student first aid.

The programme offers school staff the flexibility to choose first aid training that’s right for their students, and fit it around the demands of a busy school day. Suitable for young people aged seven and over – and aimed at both Primary and Secondary students: www.sja.org.uk/sja/training-courses/school-student-training/student-first-aid-programme.”

Winners will be announced on 16 May as part of Thank a Teacher Day.

May 6th 2014