Three of Britain’s top five GCSE religious studies candidates have one inspired priest to thank for their success.
The Rev Michael Crawford teaches religious studies at Mill Hill county high school, north London. The 56-year-old tackles hard issues head on and has high expectations.
He said: “I do not spoon-feed students - I make them chase the work and think on their feet. I introduce a topic like abortion, prejudice, the environment, animal cruelty or economics and we talk about it.
“They cannot shock me. I have been around the block once or twice and as a church minister I have seen it all.”
Mr Crawford tried his hand at building and catering before becoming a teacher and was ordained five years ago.
Bambos Sofrianos, Siyamini Sivananthan and Tina Raja wrote three of the five best AQA examination papers taken by 10,828 students in Britain. Of the 206 candidates at the school this year 171 got A* to C, and 86 got As.
