Honours for winning teachers
Good news for the teaching profession was announced in the New Year Honours List, with around 100 school heroes recognised for outstanding achievement, including four Teaching Award fellows.
Professor Tim Brighouse, former chair of the UK judging panel, was also knighted for his services to education.
Tarun Kapur CBE (pictured above), winner of the RAF Award for Headteacher of the Year in a Secondary School in the North West in 2008, said he was 'surprised and delighted'.
Tarun is executive head of three schools in the north west: Ashton on Mersey, Broadoak and Parrs Wood High. The honour recognises that he has 'excelled' in headship and praises his strong partnership with Manchester United Football Club whose academy students attend Ashton on Mersey.
Tarun said: 'It means a lot to my family but it also means a lot to the school communities - being recognised for doing the right thing. i have a great team around me and am very fortunate.'
On the national stage, Tarun has been a member of the Steer Inquiry into school discipline and is chairman of the Football Foundation Facilities Panel, helping grass-roots sport.
Three other TA fellows receiving honours in 2009 are: Robert Drew OBE, head of Gearies Infant School, Redbridge, Essex and winner of the TA Award for Healthy Schools in London in 2005; John Graham MBE, lately a teacher and deputy head at Hurworth Primary School, Darlington who won the Lifetime Achievement Award in North East & Cumbria in 2004; Dai Jones MBE, assistant head of Villers High School, Ealing, London and winner of the Guardian Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School in London in 2006.
Recognition was also given to three people who have achieved distinction with the Teaching Awards. They are: John Lockett OBE, Robert Newsome OBE, and Zafar Iqbal MBE
