LIKE most successful young graduates, Sarah Keeley has been celebrating the end of her academic life and looking forward to an exciting future.

But the 22-year-old from Cheltenham Road, Evesham, took time out this week to send a special vote of thanks to her former teachers at the three schools she attended as a child - St Andrew's at Hampton, Simon de Montfort at Four Pools and Prince Henry's in Evesham.

For she believes that without all their extra help she might never have been able to gain her first class honours degree in psychology at Warwick University.

"Sarah has had a long-standing hip problem," her mother said. "She missed periods from school but her teachers were great.

"They brought work to the house for her and helped her in all sorts of ways."

When her friends travelled or worked to earn money to help them through university, Sarah spent her gap year undergoing two major operations on her hips.

And before she seeks work as a psychology assistant, she will have to undergo a hip replacement operation.

"It has been difficult but I am sure that without all that extra help from my teachers I would never have achieved what I have," said Sarah.