A DORSET dance teacher has been honoured with a national award for her work, following a £5,000 fundraiser.

Liane Jeffries is the owner of Platinum Dance School, which has five branches in Weymouth and Portland.

The 27-year-old, from Weymouth, beat hundreds of others to win the Dance Teacher Hub’s award for teacher of the year, voted for by the public.

Liane said that it was a “bit of a shock” to win in the face of strong competition from her peers.

She added: “There were hundreds of different dance teachers and over 20,000 public votes. Some of them were teachers with the big dance schools.”

Liane was also recognised with another teacher of the year prize at the Wessex FM Local Hero Awards.

She helped to organise a fundraising event at Weymouth Pavilion earlier this year in support of juvenile arthritis care, with money split between the Kingfisher Ward at Dorset County Hospital and the paediatric rheumatology team at Southampton General Hospital.

The event, which united dance schools from across Dorset, raised more than £5,000 with a day of family fun followed by an evening dance performance.

In previous years, Platinum has raised more than £1,000 for Help for Heroes and £2,000 for Cancer Research UK with similar events.

Liane plans to set up her own charity to support children with chronic conditions and their families. She wants to call the organisation the Platinum Little Stars Foundation in order to link it with the dance school.

She said: “It is things like car parking, travelling and things like that. We want to be able to help those families, even with the little things.”

Liane said that dance can play a vital role in the development of young people in both work and their personal lives.

She added: “It is teaching them friendship and life skills and confidence.

“Standing up on stage gives them the confidence to do interviews and things, so it is not just dance.”

Liane’s sister Tegan is also an instructor at Platinum and was also nominated for the Dance Teacher Hub’s award for best new teacher.

The sisters’ mother, Jane Jeffries, said: “I am extremely proud of not only Liane, but Tegan too.

“As a family, we have had a very difficult few years but they have both continued to work hard to ensure that all the students at Platinum Dance School enjoy their time in their classes and get as many opportunities as possible.”