A* teacher's efforts noticed

Chris Murphy

A DEDICATED teacher who achieved fantastic GCSE results despite facing a difficult year due to complications from a kidney transplant has been nominated for a Pride in Oldham Award.

Chris Murphy, who teaches English and Media Studies at Royton and Crompton School, underwent a kidney transplant three-and-a-half years ago, receiving a donor kidney from his younger brother Graham Murphy.

Last year, Chris experienced a range of health issues from his anti-rejection tablets and was forced to take four weeks off over the winter due to the amount of viruses he was picking up.

Despite this, his students came top of the class in their GCSEs, with 92 per cent of his media students gaining A*-C grades and 100 per cent of his English students gaining A*-C.

Mr Murphy was nominated anonymously for achieving these outstanding results despite extreme ill health and for his exemplary commitment to his pupils.

A shocked Chris said: "I'm quite surprised and slightly embarrassed to have received the nomination but it's nice to have been put forward.

"I really struggled during the winter and had to miss quite a bit of school which I felt guilty about.

"The students knew I'd had a transplant but didn't know the exact cause of why I was off.

"But it was great that they achieved such good results in their GCSEs and I was delighted for them."

He said: "Last year was really bad but the doctors have given me a lot of advice on how to have a healthier lifestyle so this year should be better."