A teacher who is celebrating 25 years of teaching at a primary school has been nominated for a Merton Community Award.

Deputy headteacher Sarah Lyne, of Pelham Primary School in Wimbledon, is nominated for the teacher award due to her outstanding contribution to the school and the pupils over a quarter of a century.

She was taken aback when told of her nomination, saying it was an honour to be picked by her colleague.

She said: “I’m very grateful and surprised.

“I love working at Pelham Primary School and I have been here for 25 years working with an amazing team of people which drives me every day to come to work, along with the fantastic children at our school with very supportive families.”

She also runs extra-curricular activities in her own time after school, including the popular Green Fingers Gardening Club and the school council.

She said: “It is important for the children to have as many opportunities to experience different activities.

“Some children might not even have their own garden so I think it is great to provide that opportunity to enrich their lives.”

Mrs Lyne says that although she has worked in the same school for 25 years, she has had the chance to grow as a teacher.

“I have had opportunities to develop as a teacher, I became an advanced skills teacher and the last two years I have become deputy head of the school so I have had the chance to advance my career,” she said.

“You initially would think that staying at one school for 25 years makes it look like you have no career ambition but actually I have been allowed to flourish here.”

This year’s Merton Community Awards, previously known as the Merton Civic Awards, launched on Thursday, May 5.

It is run by this newspaper in association with Merton Council.

Nominate someone by voting online at www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/mca or fill out a form in the Wimbledon Guardian newspaper.