A teacher who has devoted her career to helping youngsters with dyslexia is in the running for a national lifetime achievement award.
Jane Mott from Crimond School, between Peterhead and Fraserburgh, launched a specialist unit for dyslexic children 20 years ago.
Her class, which is still going strong within the village primary, takes in youngsters from throughout the north-east corner and encourages them to build their self esteem and recognise their strengths.
One wall of the classroom has become a shrine to dyslexia success stories, featuring pictures of Richard Branson, Jackie Stewart, Alexander Graham Bell and Sir Steve Redgave, among others.
And every afternoon, Ms Mott goes out of Crimond to visit children with the learning disability at other schools in the region.
The 60-year-old, who retires this summer, was nominated by Crimond head teacher Hilda Creighton.
“We are all really proud of Jane and what she has achieved here,” said Mrs Creighton. “We wanted her work to be recognised, so we got hold of a nomination form and filled it in.”
Now Ms Mott is in the running for the lifetime achievement honour at the Scottish Education Awards, which take place in Glasgow this summer.
Ms Mott said: “When I got the letter telling me I had been shortlisted I didn’t know what it was and just put it aside for a while.
“When I had a chance to sit down and read it I was absolutely stunned.
“I’m obviously absolutely delighted to be nominated. The dyslexia unit has really grown over the years and it has been a lot of work, but it has been fun.
“I’ll certainly miss the children when I retire.”
As well as establishing the unit at Crimond, which helps p5-7 pupils from throughout the Mintlaw, Peterhead and Fraserburgh catchment area, she was instrumental in developing a dyslexia policy for schools throughout Aberdeenshire.
“The children obviously need extra help with their spelling and writing,” she said.
“But we also focus on helping their self esteem. If you’ve gone through life thinking you are failing at something, it can really affect you and what we do is work to improve confidence.”
Ms Mott is up against two other teachers from Scotland for the honour.
The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Glasgow’s City Halls on Thursday, June 16.