Known for her deeply emotional songs that move fans to tears, Adele had some tears of her own to shed after she was surprised by her former secondary school teacher.

The Easy On Me singer was surprised on stage by Ms McDonald, from Chestnut Grove School in Balham, who taught her before she moved to the prestigious Brit School as a teenager.

The moment happened during the singer's ITV concert special, "An Audience with Adele," which aired in the UK on Sunday night.

An Audience With Adele, which was recorded at the London Palladium earlier this month, saw the singer perform songs from her new album, 30, while also taking questions from famous celebs.

In one of the questions, Dame Emma Thompson asked the singer who had inspired her in her past.

In response, the grammy award winner opened up about her English teacher at Chestnut Grove Academy; who she said was a huge inspiration to her.

The singer shared: "I had a teacher at (south London high school) Chestnut Grove, who taught me English. That was Miss McDonald, She got me really into English literature. Like, I've always been obsessed with English and obviously now I write lyrics."

"But she also did street dance, I was too scared to go in, but like in the canteen they used to do these dances and stuff like that.

"She was so bloody cool. So engaging," she added, recalling that McDonald often wore sequins and gold bracelets. "She really made us care, and we knew that she cared about us."

Little did Adele know that Miss McDonald was also in the audience. Miss Thompson had invited her; and as the former school teacher came up to join her on the stage, Adele broke down to tears and shared a passionate hug with her.

"I am so proud of you", Mcdonald, who Adele had not seen in 20 years said.

After the special aired, Adele took to Twitter to share her excitement at the reunion. "Home Sweet Home. I've always dreamt of doing An Audience With" There was so much love in the room for each other, it felt like such a gig!", she wrote.

Other stars who asked questions included Samuel L Jackson, Dawn French and England football manager Gareth Southgate.