TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular Suffolk teacher who has died after a three-year battle with cancer.Alison Wimms , assistant headteacher at Pot Kiln Primary School in Great Cornard, died on Sunday morning.

TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular Suffolk teacher who has died after a three-year battle with cancer.

Alison Wimms , assistant headteacher at Pot Kiln Primary School in Great Cornard, died on Sunday morning.

The 55-year-old, who came to Suffolk to work at Shimpling Primary School in 1984, leaves a husband, two daughters and a granddaughter.

She served as acting headteacher at Shimpling for two terms before it closed and then moved on to All Saints in Lawshall and to Lavenham.

From there, Mrs Wimms took up the post of Key Stage 1/Early Years Co-ordinator at Pot Kiln. She later became responsible for special educational needs before her promotion to assistant headteacher in 2003.

Paying tribute, Tom Scherb, western area education manager, said: “I first knew Alison at Shimpling Primary School where she dealt with the school closure with skill and diplomacy.

“She was someone who put heart and soul into her work, most recently at Pot Kiln, and her commitment to children and to teaching was exemplary.”

Wilma Hyde, headteacher at Pot Kiln, added: “Alison's death is an enormous loss for the school.

“I have only been in post at Pot Kiln since January of this year but all I have heard of Alison is about her passion for the care and education of children. She will be greatly missed.”