A man has fallen in love and is engaged to his former PE teacher – 13 years after she taught him at secondary school – and says his friends still call her ‘Miss’.
Scott Davies, 33, and Helen Booth, 41, first met in 2009 – when he was a student at Barclay School, sixth form in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and she taught him PE.
They crossed paths again 13 years later in 2022 in Stevenage – initially having no idea there was any romantic potential.
But they ended up falling in love, moving in together, and Scott popped the question in August 2024 on a beach in Ibiza with a crowd of 200 people looking on.
Now – 17 years on from their first date – they have a home together and are getting married next year.
Scott, a primary school teacher, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, said: “It’s a bit of a whirlwind story.
“I would never have thought that I would marry my former teacher, but we are very happy together.”
Helen, who now works as a special educational needs co-ordinator at a secondary school, added: “I feel very lucky with what we have in our relationship – it’s very special and we make each other very happy.”
The pair – who are eight years apart in age – were not dating at the time, but reunited after Scott returned to Stevenage from Birmingham, West Midlands, in 2022.
Scott had coached cricket at his old school – where Helen still worked at the time – and the pair struck up a friendship soon after he left university when he was 21.
Scott went on to become an elementary school teacher, while Helen began working in a special needs school.
Scott contacted Helen again when he was 25, hoping she would be able to answer some questions he had about teaching.
After Scott’s relationship ended, he returned to Stevenage from Birmingham and got back in touch with Helen to discuss teaching.
But even then there was no romantic relationship between them and things were “strictly professional”.
Scott said: “At that point it was all professional – we were just touching base.
“I texted him to see how he was, and we decided to meet for a date at a bar.
“We had a drink, but then we were like ‘is this a date?’
The pair ended up having a few more drinks and realized they had romantic potential.
Scott said: “After that, we ended up spending the next four days together.
“Neither of us were actively looking for a partner at the time, but things just fell into place.”
Helen said: “It was amazing how well we hit it off straight away and how natural it was, we both thought it was an ‘accomplishment’ at first but now we know it was our first date.”
Scott claims that Helen was the one teacher that all the boys “fell in love” with when they were at school.
Scott said: “My friends were thrilled when they found out – they knew what a lovely person Helen was.”
Helen said: “Scott had kept in touch with some of my colleagues who had learned from his training and they were really happy for us both.”
Within two years of meeting, the couple became engaged.
Their relationship, however, has had its fair share of interesting moments — especially when friends and acquaintances found out how they first met.
Scott said: “It was interesting when my friends met her as they were also taught by her.
“At first some of them would still say ‘hello miss’ – it was quite funny – one of them still does!”
It’s not just his friends who have had to adjust, as some of Helen’s friends are also Scott’s former teachers.
While Scott was initially reluctant to tell his parents that Helen taught him.
“At first I was afraid to tell mom and dad,” he said.
“So, I let my parents meet her first without mentioning anything, then I dropped her in – ‘oh, by the way, she used to teach me!’
“Thankfully everyone was fine and my parents were cool with it.
“Obviously it’s quite a funny story – we never had any idea all those years ago that we’d end up together.”
The couple’s relationship has only gone from strength to strength and they now live together in Shefford, Bedfordshire and got engaged in April 2024.
But even now when they tell their story, they laugh at how people react.
Scott said: “She means ‘he used to come back and teach my PE’ – but she leaves out the first point when we ‘knew’ each other.
Helen said: “I can’t wait to get married next year, have a baby together and continue to be so happy together.”
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