Love was on the curriculum at a Carshalton school after six teachers met and got married.
The teachers all wed in separate ceremonies this summer after meeting their respective paramours across the staff room at Carshalton Boys’ Sports College.
Headteacher Simon Barber said students had been thrilled with the matches, buying flowers and cards for the couples who he said were “all very hardworking, professional and committed to the school’’.
Lisa Berry, an English teacher from Sydney, Australia, met Edwin Wenyon, a PE teacher, when she began teaching at the college in January 2003.
The two became friends over lunchtime chats, started dating in late 2004, were engaged in Paris in 2006 and married in Sydney on August 9 this year.
Miss Berry said: “What I do know is that Ed was attracted to my easy going nature – typical of Australians, in his opinion.
“For me, it was his compassion, sweetness and generosity, after all I had just left my home for a new start and I missed my family terribly.
“I felt really lonely and sad. Beginning a new life in another country is never easy, so meeting Ed was fantastic and is definitely the best thing that’s happened to me.’’ The chemistry between science teachers Suzanne Storbeck and Christopher Greffrath was not instant for both when they met four years ago but the pair soon bonded and wed in South Africa on August 2.
Miss Storbeck said: “He says for him it was love at first sight, but it came a little later on for me. I met him when I first started there and he looked friendly, so I walked up to him and introduced myself.
“He said it was my firm handshake and my green eyes. For me it was his smile and the fact he brings out the best in me.’’ Teacher Lauren Fraser, 33, an art and special needs teacher from New Zealand, became Mrs Avery on April 7, when she married Paul Avery, 32, from London, assistant head and director of sport and who has worked at the school since 2000.
She said: “We met at school but got to know each other better through a joint love of rugby.
“We started going out during the 2003 Rugby World Cup. We were married in Queenstown, New Zealand, at a vineyard. It was Paul’s first visit and he fell in love with the place.’’ Carshalton Boys’ Sports College, recently marked as a good school with outstanding features by Ofsted, has 1,124 pupils aged between 11 years and 19 years old and was designated a specialist sports college in 2003.
Two other teachers from the school, Miss Butcher – now Mrs Walker – and Miss Golden also married this summer, but met their match outside of the school gates.
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