A FORMER dinner lady at Okehampton Primary School has received an outstanding achievement award for her dedication to learning and for obtaining her GCSEs.

Kathryn Dell, from Okehampton, was recently presented with the Learner Achievement Award by Learn Devon — the registered training programme that offers community learning courses on behalf of Devon County Council.

She was selected from hundred of learners nominated for this award, which recognises dedication and success within adult learning.

Last year, Kathryn announced that she was giving up her part-time meal time assistant role at the primary school to study two GCSEs, one in English and one in maths.

Kathryn, who is a mum of two, sat her exams in the summer and said she was pleased to have passed.

She also said she was ‘thrilled’ to have won the award and was looking forward to starting the next step on her learning journey — to study to become a midwife.

Learn Devon’s Cindy Squire, who is Kathryn’s tutor, said: ‘When Kathryn came to her first Family Learning course, she was shy, unconfident and very quiet.

‘In particular she did not like maths and had bad memories from school. But Kathryn had a curiosity that kept her wanting to find out more, both for her sake and for the sake of her children.

‘Amazingly, Kathryn has just passed her GCSE exams in, not only English, but in maths too! A tremendous achieve-ment!’

‘I think she is a wonderful mum who has worked hard to support her children. I think because of the desire to discover more about the way subjects are now taught in school, Kathryn herself has become hooked and enthused for her own learning.’

‘I’d like to personally thank Kathryn for participating on some of my Family Learning courses and for being so proactive in encouraging other parents and carers to come along and give learning a go!

‘I’d like to wish her all the very best with all her study, and hope that one day soon she becomes a midwife.’

Learn Devon, which is based in Tavistock, offers a range of free courses to help parents support their children’s learning as well as English and maths to GCSE level.

For more information, call the Learn Devon office on 01822 613701.