STARTING out as a new teacher can be hard enough without the pressures of a global pandemic to deal with.

However, for Maria Ahmed she has flown through this period with flying colours, adapting brilliantly to the challenges of remote learning.

Giving her initial reaction to the T&A, she said: “I feel like I have set the standards really high now and I will have to keep working as hard as I have been over the past two years.

“I was not even expecting to be nominated, it has just been a shock overall.”

Maria recently had to go into a period of isolation, and she talks about that ordeal and how she came back stronger.

“The first week back was just about regaining those relationships. When they have not spoken to anybody for two weeks, apart from the people in their house, it is difficult.

“After each holiday, we get nervous that we have forgotten how to teach so I felt like that. But once I got back in contact with my classes, because I know them so well and care about them, it has just come back naturally to go back to teaching.

“It has not been about getting the children to catch up, it is more about making sure the children are ready to learn, cared for, feel secure, happy and then we can get with the learning. If they do not feel safe in your classroom, they are not going to learn.”

Nicole Seek of Shirley Manor and Rhianna Finch of Russell Hall were the runners up for this award.