A Witham teacher has earned recognition for being the first in the country to train an entire school of future engineers.

Paul Tyrrell made STEM subjects, science, technology, engineering and maths, a priority when he joined Maltings Academy, in Spinks Lane, last September.

He launched an after school STEM club and turned the annual activities week into five days packed with challenges dedicated to the topics.

By the end of the week, 665 students had earned the CREST Discovery Award from the British Science Association making Maltings the first in the country to make such a commitment.

As a result, Mr Tyrrell has been given the 2015 CREST Teacher Recognition Award by the Association as acknowledgment of his dedication, commitment and encouragement of student engagement.

Mr Tyrrell, one of just 300 teachers to earn the award across the country, said: “It’s quite unheard of for a school to put every one of its students forward for the CREST award and it probably won’t be achieved again, until we do it again next year.”