Head teacher Rachel Kelly has raised at least £750 for the National Deaf Children’s Society by running through the streets of London.

She took part in the London Marathon for the charity that’s close to St Augustine’s High School in Kilburn where she teaches.

Many of her pupils are supported directly by the charity — so Rachel took her run seriously by preparing for 16 weeks right through winter.

“I’ve been running home from school once a week,” Rachel explained. “It has been testing, in all weathers and also getting up on a Sunday morning at 6.30 to run.”

She completed her final final practice run at 22 miles which was a huge improvement her first week in January managing just three miles!

Pupils and parents at St Augustine’s have backed their head teacher by donations to the children’s charity and staging their own fundraiser in March when they all wore PE kits and took part in activities that included the figure ‘26.2’ representing the number of miles in the marathon.

This included 262 press ups, 262 swimming pool laps, 262 football ‘keep ups’ or walking 26.2 miles in a week.

Wellwishers can still donate to Rachel’s fundraising with pledges emailed to rkelly@stahigh.org or to the “2024tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com” website following the “rachel-kelly” link.

St Augustine’s is known for its provisions for deaf pupils by integrating them into mainstream lessons and running activities for Deaf Awareness Week. The Deaf Children’s Society aims to create “a world without barriers for deaf children”.