Teaching for Tony Russell was about so much more than the classroom.
And after 35 years at the chalkface, that dedication to extra-curricular activities has won him an honorary degree from Scotland’s biggest teaching union.
Tony, who taught at both Leuchars and Ceres primary schools, has been made a fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland.
Ceres nature garden
While at Ceres he started an interschools football festival and established a nature garden, both of which remain to this day.
And at Leuchars he set up a community fridge providing food for those who need it in the village and neighbouring Guardbridge.
Tony, who retired last summer and lives in Pittenweem, is the first Fife teacher to have been granted the fellowship for many years.
It also recognises his work for the union, which included coordinating learning experiences for teachers.
Tony said: “It is an especially gratifying award to receive because the application is completed secretly by colleagues who wanted me to receive recognition for educational, union and community accomplishments over four decades.”
Tony, 63, trained as a teacher at Moray House and began his career at London Fields Primary, London, in 1989.
By the time he left there 10 years later, he had become principal teacher.
Extra-curricular focus began in London
He said: “At London Fields there was a focus on the value of providing extra-curricular activities for pupils, with the understanding that a range of afterschool clubs enriched pupil experience and boosted the school ethos.
“Teachers were expected to organise a weekly club and so when I moved to Fife this approach was embedded in my practice.”
Tony did a masters degree in education at Dundee University to become a chartered teacher. He also spent a year in Australia in 2011 on a teacher exchange.
At Ceres Primary School from 1999 to 2012 he started the annual football festival, which last year involved 200 children from across north-east Fife.
The Russell Cup for football
The event continues under the leadership of Active Schools coordinator Madison Garland, with the winners’ trophy renamed The Russell Cup.
Also at Ceres the nature garden remains in use 20 years on.
When Tony started it with pupils and parents, he installed raised vegetable beds for each class, a herb hill, a pond, wildflower area and outdoor classroom with benches.
The community fridge he set up with pupils at Leuchars Primary School is known as Leuchars Larder.
That work also earned him the title of North Fife Citizen of Year last year from North Fife Rotary Club.
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