Winners of the sports prize

Last term the Teaching Awards nominations prize was £2000-worth of vouchers for sports equipment. The winning school was Elmington Enterprise College in Kent, where 14-year-old Esther Salimon nominated her teacher Ms Mamoun.

Esther was convinced she was terrible at learning languages – 'then Ms Mamoun worked her magic!' Esther, who starts GCSE Spanish next year, says the nomination only took a few minutes. 'When I'd done it I felt I'd done something really positive for my teacher and my school. Winning the sports prize was a bonus.'

More than 18,500 teaching assistants have achieved Higher Level TA status in recent years, and new research shows they are making a positive difference to school life and standards.

TA survey published last month by the Training and Development Agency for Schools, showed that 91 per cent of senior leaders (including heads, deputies and assistant heads) believe they have made a positive contribution to pupil performance. Meanwhile 83 per cent of HLTAs, who are part of a 150,000-strong workforce of TAs, believe they have made a positive impact on the work of teachers.

Sugababes presenting Jim Herbert

with his national award

The Award covers many supportive roles, including learning mentors such as Jim Herbert, winner in 2007, from Little Ilford School, in the London borough of Newham, where his official title is 'year achievement co-ordinator'.

One senior teaching assistant recently wrote to Teaching Awards HQ saying: 'I personally work alongside an NNEB, HLTA, learning mentor and support assistants… For fun, we often refer to ourselves as The TA – as in Territorial Army – because of all the diverse roles we have!'

She is the new Secondary Schools Adviser to Education Secretary Ed Balls, after a 16-year career at Denbigh High School in Luton. The school has undergone a steady transformation and is now among the top 10 state comprehensives for 'value added'.

Dame Yasmin, who received her title in the 2007 New Year's Honours List, believes her appointment is a boost for her school and home town. 'All our successes are shared,' she told the Luton Herald and Post, adding: 'I will be back!'

Teaching Award winner Vince Evans with Estelle Morris and BBC presenter Ashley Blake

The wise and legendary influence of PE teacher Vince Evans, who used this phrase on-stage at the West Midlands ceremony, was celebrated by everyone at John Taylor High School in Burton upon Trent at the end of his 37 years there.

Vince is one of several winners of the 2007 Ted Wragg Award for Lifetime Achievement, sponsored by the Innovation Unit, whose careers culminated in winning a plato this summer.

Vince will never be forgotten by his pupils, who say he should be named 'teacher of the century'.

Meet children from around the world and learn all about their life at school.

To celebrate the publication of A School Like Mine, DK is launching an international pen pal pairing scheme and will match your class with one from another school across the globe.

To sign up and receive your activity worksheets and joining pack, email penpals@dk.com

As part of its wider commitment to education, the Ministry of Defence will shortly launch a multi-media teaching resource for 14–16-year-olds in english, maths, science, geography and PSHE.

Launching September '07, Defence Dynamics will be available online and free of charge for all teachers to download. Forty complete lesson plans featuring recent MOD case studies and unique visual resources, encourage students to apply their skills and help teachers to foster a dynamic learning environment.