December 16 update
Gulgong High School’s Judith Woods has won the ‘Unsung Hero – Teacher’ award, beating four other teachers across Australia for the coveted award.
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Original story
For 35 years, Judith Woods has been going above and beyond in her role as a teacher at Gulgong High School in ways that have changed countless lives for the better, and now it’s time to pay her back.
Judy is among just five finalists in the running for the Australia's Unsung Hero - Teacher award, run by EducationHQ Australia.
The final five were selected from hundreds of nominations and when we asked Judy what it meant to receive the nomination, she couldn’t help but get emotional.
“It came at the end of a very tough week,” she said.
“I thought oh my gosh, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’m really, really proud that I can be a part of Gulgong High and I can be a part of the community and they’ve recognised my efforts over the years to recommend the nomination.”
“For me to make it in the top five in Australia is pretty phenomenal in that people can see the value of what goes on behind the scenes in educating a student in today’s society.”
“A lot of kids struggle, and because I’m a mum foremost and a teacher. I’m combining the two together.”
Judy spoke about what goes into her job as a teacher and how hard she works at making an impact in her students’ lives.
“We know nowadays that teaching’s not all about ‘teaching’ and face to face delivery of lessons it’s about - and what I do best - is catering for the needs of children and not all kids have equal opportunities or maybe the best family behind them.”
“A lot of kids struggle, and because I’m a mum foremost and a teacher. I’m combining the two together.”
“I wash their clothes if they’re dirty. You know, if for whatever reason they don’t have washing facilities at home.”
“I feed them if they need breakfast or lunch, there’s always food that I help organise so that they’ve got food in their bellies and it’s about delivery of lessons as well.”
“I’ve always been adamant that I try to do my best with the demands of teaching now which are huge, with the amount of administration as well as delivery of lessons, there’ a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that we need to do as part of our job and that takes time.”
If you’d like to vote for Judith, voting closed at 5pm on December 10.
