Extra effort sees teacher shortlisted

Sandy was nominated by Keely Crocker, one of her pupils from last year. Keely suffers from chronic kidney disease and Sandy spent many extra hours with her to ensure she didn’t fall behind in her schoolwork.
“It’s a bit overwhelming to have made the top 10,” said Sandy. “We are just doing our jobs. It’s a very special feeling to be nominated for such an award. As a teacher, you don’t realise how much you impact these children and how much they appreciate what you do until they put it in writing.”
E.tv has filmed each of the top 10 nominees for a short segment to be aired on the channel to get viewers to vote for their favourite teacher. Sandy was surprised by a film crew who visited the school last week to film her and Keely in five different scenes. “It ended up being great fun and I got my whole class from last year back for a short time, which was great.”
Keely submitted her motivation at the beginning of the year. Her mother, Kandi could not help but spill the beans to Sandy three months ago as she was desperate for the teacher to read the wonderful letter Keely had written to the organisers. “Keely did such a fantastic job of her letter, but I didn’t dream anything would come of it. When the organisers contacted me, I didn’t know what they were talking about.”
The winner of the Teacher of the Year award will receive R15,000 in cash, while the pupil who nominated her will receive R5,000 in store vouchers. Her school will win a Pep Academy as well as a Pep Academy ‘library–in-a-box’ containing 50 books worth R7,000. The winner will be announced by the end of October on e.tv and in press announcements. “I’m very excited as I didn’t expect any of this. I don’t normally like the limelight, but this will benefit the school.”
Sandy’s segment will air at the end of September. Her code is 986. Vote for her by dialing the PEP club number *130*737# to vote for free or SMS the word ‘teacher’, followed by 986 to 34705. SMSes costs R1.50 and free SMSes do not apply.