The headteacher of a special education school in Abingdon has been awarded and MBE in the New Year’s Honours list.

Andrew Day, headteacher at the Unicorn School, received the honour in recognition of his services to education.

This is Oxfordshire: Headteacher of The Unicorn School, Andrew DayHeadteacher of The Unicorn School, Andrew Day (Image: The Unicorn School)

Mr Day joined the school in 2015 as headteacher after holding the same position at Calder House School in Bath, where he transformed a ‘good’ school into an ‘outstanding’ school in all seven areas.

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Mr Day said: “I am truly honoured to receive this award, but I share it with all the inspirational, highly skilled and dedicated teachers and staff at The Unicorn School. They transform the lives of our pupils daily.

“When pupils come to us it is often after a challenging period where their learning difficulties are often exasperated due to elevated levels of anxiety experienced from struggling to cope with large class sizes and insufficient one to one provision.

“Due to the specialist knowledge, experience and understanding of our staff we can provide them with an environment in which they feel safe and understood.”

He added: “We know that our students learn differently, so we teach differently. Yet we do it in a way that no one is made to feel different.”

Mr Day studied at Cardiff Met University and graduated with a Bachelor of Education in 1992.

He has also taught at Bristol Grammar Lower School, and was the academic lead for Hornsby House School, Wycliffe Preparatory School and Cheltenham College Preparatory School.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

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