'Selfless' teacher died weeks after diagnosis

YOU know someone is truly special when it feels like everyone in a community comes together to mourn their loss.

- ELLIE GOSLEY

That has been the case in the Rhondda Fach in recent days after the death of popular teacher Paul Daniels, 64, who died just six weeks after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Hundreds of Mr Daniels’ former students have paid tribute to him after his family announced he had died recently.

The teacher, from Ferndale, taught art, design technology and graphic design at Porth Community School before he retired in 2023.

His daughter Isobel said the out-pouring of love for her father “sums up who he was as a person”.

“Even when he was ill, one of the things he said that will stick with me is ‘All I could ever want from life is to know that I've impacted people’ and he’s definitely achieved that,” Isobel, 26, said.

Mr Daniels spent much of his career as a graphic designer, which allowed him to be at home with his young family, before returning to university later in life to train as a teacher.

He spent much of his teaching career at Porth Community School, where he taught for 14 years.

“It’s very clear that he was made to be a father, but he was made to be a teacher too. He might not have said it himself but it’s clear that was his purpose,” Isobel said.

She said her dad would do anything for her, her sister Frances and mum Linda - and this kindness extended to his pupils and colleagues.

Isobel said: “As a father, he was devoted to me and my sister. Anything we needed - he'd be there. We were really close but reading the comments people have left made it clear to me that the way he was as a father, he put that into his teaching too. He took care and time with everyone.”

She added: “He was someone who would go above and beyond for his students.”