I started at Wootton Bassett High School in 2001. Gosh, that seems a long time ago now. I loved my time there, I really did. There was a swimming pool in the leisure centre next door so, at my peak, I was doing really rather a lot of swimming. I’d have swimming classes before school, then I’d eat breakfast on the way to school. Then, I remember having swimming classes in school between 9am and 11am, my hair would still be wet for my first class, and then I’d have another hour and half in the pool after school. I remember some of the boys in at Wootton Bassett thinking they could beat me in a race. I really don’t think they realised quite how much I swam!

I enjoyed most subjects, particularly Maths, but perhaps unsurprisingly I was at my happiest playing sport. The teacher I remember most was my PE teacher and netball coach, Miss Meredith, a real tracksuit and trainers sort of a teacher. Miss Meredith managed to get me an A* in PE, which is testament to her as a teacher more than me as a pupil.

She was fairly big on discipline. She wasn’t ferocious, by any means, but she could be quite hard on us and I think we needed that. She knew how to get the best out of us and knew exactly how to teach in a way that would ensure we all remembered what she’d said.

Miss Meredith drilled home a work ethic. We’d practice netball in our lunch hour - give up our free time to play - and that was what she was all about. She understood that we’d only take out what we’d put in and she made sure we put in plenty. To get results, you have to work hard and that’s something Miss Meredith knew, and something that hopefully I have taken with me in my older life and into the pool.

She was a very thorough woman and knew how to communicate. She would give great constructive criticism and she would listen to our ideas, and factor them into training and into our match tactics, and I think that’s a really key element to teaching. Listening to the opinion of the pupils, not just in sports but classrooms. A good teacher needs to be passionate about what they do. They need to care about the subject and care, more importantly, about why they teach it.

Miss Meredith respected us, but didn’t allow any messing about. She commanded concentration because she knew that was how to get the grades. And she wanted us to succeed. We could tell she wanted us to succeed and that level of passion is contagious.

As wonderful as Miss Meredith was, it’s the school as a whole that I’m most grateful to. I went to the Commonwealth Games when I was 15 - in my first year of GCSEs - and the entire school supported me. I was gone for eight weeks! I mean it when I say the school helped get me there, and helped me achieve my dreams. The teachers all had patience with me and believed that I could succeed as a swimmer, so I’m extremely grateful to them all.

I made amazing friends and have such happy memories of that place. I’d love to go back and relive it all, I really would. Wootten Basset High School made me into the person who I am today.

I’m going to go back and see everyone for sure, take my medals to show them. Miss Meredith isn’t there anymore, sadly, so I do hope she reads this and realises the impact that she had.

Jazz Carlin was speaking to Tom Cullen. Jazz, who is a two-time Olympic silver medallist, is an ambassador for Speedo. Find out more at www.speedo.com