Shaun Mitchell – Inspiration in Education nominee
Shaun Mitchell – Inspiration in Education nominee
The classroom of Endon High School teacher Shaun Mitchell is usually filling up with pupils when other people are leaving at the end of the school day.
For more than a decade the school’s Director of Teaching and Learning for Design and Technology has been giving up his free time to lead on enrichment opportunities including engineering competitions.
The 41-year-old, who has been a teacher for 15 years and based at Endon High School for 11 years, has led pupils to win a coveted international award after competing in South Korea.
He has been nominated as an Inspiration in Education in the Your Heroes Awards by the mum of one of his pupils.
She said: “The word teacher does not describe the level of commitment and enthusiasm that he brings to his role and the school. To say that he goes above and beyond for the pupils at Endon High is an understatement.
“Mr Mitchell has seen the potential of a group of pupils, harnessed their engineering skills, developed their collaboration skills so that they work as a tight-knit team and taken them on a journey of a lifetime to reach their highest potential.
“He has done all of this out of his regular school hours. He often works with the team until at least 5pm most evenings, has given up weekends for competitions and days during his holidays so that they could practise and develop their final products and robot.”
This year the Lego robotics engineering team from Endon High won the national IET First Lego League competition in Harrogate and went on to win the Excellence in Engineering award at the international competition in South Korea. It is the first time a UK team has won the award.
In the lead up to the international competition Shaun spent countless hours speaking to local businesses to raise sponsorship so that the team could compete overseas and organised publicity on local radio and TV to highlight the team’s success.
The parent added: “This huge success is an accumulation of Mr Mitchell’s dedication, hard work and the pure passion he has for developing the engineers of the future. This isn’t just a one-off moment. This is something that he has been working towards since joining Endon High approximately 10 years ago and has given each team the same level of commitment and support. He has already started to plan for multiple teams across various engineering competitions for the next few years ensuring the legacy will continue to thrive.
“It has become evident that the five young men in the team see Mr Mitchell as more than just a teacher. He is their role model, their mentor, their team member, someone who they trust and respect with their whole heart and above all I honestly believe they would say he was a friend.
“I had the absolute pleasure in joining them on their trip to South Korea and what I witnessed was a family. Our world has become very disjointed, where young people are afraid to be who they truly are and where many friendships are built on superficial beliefs. What started out as an extra-curricular activity has brought together five young men who have found the freedom and confidence to be who they are meant to be and where they belong. Without Mr Mitchell these five young men may not have found their people or themselves and they would not have had this amazing opportunity that has led to so many life changing experiences.”
Shaun said: “This isn’t about me, it’s about the kids. They’re realised a dream and in striving for their dream they’ve gained so many other things too.
“I’m honoured that a parent has gone out of their way to write such a beautiful thing. It made me cry when I read it. I was reading it out loud to my son and had to stop because I got choked up.”