A teacher at Ysgol Y Deri school in Penarth has been nominated for this year's Professional Teaching Cymru Awards. 

Lucy Morgan, 39, who began teaching at the school when it first opened in 2014, has been shortlisted in the 'Teacher of the Year in a Secondary school' category and the ceremony is scheduled for July 10.

She tells Penarth Nub News: "I found out that I had made the shortlist about a couple of months ago – it's been a bit of a learning curve really. There was a postcard delivered to the school to say I'd been nominated. 

"Then the headteacher informed me that actually, the judging panel were going to visit to come and see me because I'd made the shortlist."  

Two judges from the panel have visited Lucy at the school to observe her teaching and discuss the impact she has made on pupils, parents and the school as a whole. "I'm not somebody who is going to shout it out from the rooftops; I'm just the sort of person that quietly gets on with doing a good job," she says. 

"So, you can imagine being nominated for something you love doing...it took me a while to get my head around it." 

During her eight years at the school, Lucy has been praised and recognised for many positive contributions. She also has extensive experience working with pupils demonstrating challenging behaviours, from physical aggression to verbal abuse. "I've had huge success with those [pupils]," she says.  

"They've now gone back into mainstream class settings. I'm really passionate about the impact hormones have on the body and normalising behaviour. 

"Pupils say I make them feel like a human again and what they're going through is similar to other people, giving them strategies to survive in the world. I don't just look at education – I look at what it is we need to do to develop personal skills." 

Currently, Lucy teaches a class where some pupils have not attended a school setting in four years and she has helped the pupils achieve 100% attendance. "Whatever approach I'm using and the way I'm delivering lessons and looking after wellbeing, pupils are responding really positively to my message," she says. 

"These pupils are returning to education after years of sitting in their bedrooms and not communicating with people and I think the reason why I've been selected to run this provision is the success I've had with other pupils." 

So, who will Lucy be taking with her to the awards ceremony? "Well, I definitely have to take my husband – he's been helping me laminate and cut and paste for many years and listening to how my day's gone, so definitely him! 

"If I could take pupils with me, I know they would have a whale of a time! They're the reason I come to work every day.  

"Even though I've been nominated for an award, they've done all the hard work. I've just provided them with the right tools and environment."