A LONG-serving deputy head has been rewarded with an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Shelagh Moore, who has been at Rugby High School since 1999, was honoured for her services to education as she prepares to retire at the end of this year after 37 years in teaching.
“I’m absolutely delighted and very honoured,” she told us.
“I really feel I’m accepting it on behalf of all the people in my school who work really hard, they’re equally as dedicated. I feel I’m a representative for them.”
Mrs Moore, described as a gifted and inspiring teacher of French and Spanish, is also in charge of professional development at the school, meaning she passes on her knowledge, understanding and expertise to the next generation of teachers.
The student charity committee which she leads raises thousands of pounds each year for good causes in the UK and abroad.
She also spent a term as acting head of the school in 2003 during which she led the school through an Ofsted inspection in which it was graded outstanding.
Head teacher Charlotte Marten said the whole school was very proud of and grateful to Mrs Moore.
“Generations of students at Rugby High School have benefited from Mrs Moore’s teaching.
“I continually meet former RHS students who tell me how she made learning a foreign language fun and how useful that language is to them now in their careers. She always has the students’ best interests at heart.
“She is keen to make sure the school runs smoothly and that takes a lot of hard unglamorous work behind the scenes that nobody sees.
“I am absolutely delighted her contribution to education in this country has been acknowledged in this way by Her Majesty.”
Elizabeth Phillips, chief executive of Age UK Warwickshire, has also been honoured with an MBE in recognition of her service to older people in the county for the past 23 years.
She was appointed the charity’s first chief officer in 1991 with just two part-time staff and two charity shops to the largest charity working for older people in Warwickshire. There are now 200 staff and 500 volunteers, and nine charity shops dotted throughout the county.
“I was amazed, delighted and deeply honoured when I heard I was to receive the award. The recognition is as much for the work of my colleagues as for me, who have been vital in the growth of the charity over the past 23 years,” she said.
