‘Quite simply, Trevor was one of the most dedicated teachers’

Trevor Langley began his career at Budbrooke Primary School in 1973 and went on to spend 12 years at Woodloes Primary the first time around.

He moved on to Telford Infants in Leamington and then retrained as a teacher of deaf children. Trevor went on to manage the county-wide hearing impairment unit at St John’s Primary in Kenilworth where he taught four to 18-year-olds.

But for the past three years the teacher has been back at Woodloes running the after-school club and providing one-to-one tuition for children including those with hearing disabilities there and at nearby St Peter’s in Leamington.

Last week he was awarded the Pride of Warwick “Educator of the Year” award following an anonymous nomination which could have come from any number of pupils or parents.

Indeed, it might even have come from Woodloes head teacher, Andy Mitchell, who described Trevor as “quite simply one of the most versatile and dedicated educational professionals I have ever had the privilege to meet”.

Mr Mitchell said: “He’s a teacher of the highest calibre and a great human being.

“He’s devoted his life to teaching, was part of setting up a network of musical associations between schools and has just touched the lives of so many children in the district over the past 40 years. Only recently one of our current parents was telling me of his fond recollections of a lesson he experienced while in ‘Mr Langley’s class’ and his positive influence.”

Outside the classroom 61-year-old Trevor has helped his wife Lindsey run the Beavers colony on the Woodloes estate for the past 25 years and uses his musical knowledge to sign the annual gang shows.

“Making music as visual as possible and linking it to movement can help both the moderate and profoundly deaf,” explained Trevor whose first job on retirement is to tackle a 140 mile walk along the Grand Union Canal to raise money for a charity started by his son, Robert.

“The charity is called CAW and it helps disadvantaged children to access grants that allow them to pursue an interest in music, drama, sport or other creative projects,” says Trevor.

He added: “I decided to specialise in learning sign language and teaching hearing impaired children after seeing one little lad labelled a troublemaker.

“He was nearly expelled from a school I was working in when in fact he simply couldn’t hear very well.

“I was fortunate enough to understand a little about hearing loss as it’s something that also affects Lindsey, my wife, and so that led me to deciding to specialise.

“I was head of the Hearing Impaired Unit at St John’s where I spent more than ten years before becoming a peripatetic teacher. The last three great years have been back here at Woodloes running the before and after school club.