Mrs Heather Rockhold
Teaching Awards 2007 Winner
The Ted Wragg Award for Lifetime Achievement, sponsored by the Innovation Unit in London
Lauriston Primary School, LONDON
Heather has taught in Hackney for 35 years and been head of Lauriston for 15. But she is about as far from a stick-in-the-mud as you can get!
Not only is she one of those rare heads whose influence spreads far beyond her own inspiring school, but she is constantly updating her own skills and expertise. Three years ago she took an MBA, specialising in educational leadership – one of only a handful of heads in the country to do so -- and travelled to China as part of her studies. Now Mandarin is on the curriculum for her pupils!
Heather is an experienced school leader, who has trained her staff so thoroughly that she can safely leave the school in their hands while she spreads the benefits of her expertise and wisdom.
She is a non-executive director on the board of the Learning Trust, Hackney’s education authority, where she champions the cause of primary schools. She has also set up project to help her fellow heads by looking into how to reduce paperwork and the stress of external demands.
Her school is famous for its creative learning and visitors from all over the country beat a path to its door to see how the arts can be used to enhance how children learn. They see a school that puts drama, art projects and dance to countless imaginative uses. As a result, Heather is a well-known speaker on creativity in the curriculum and a voice for national bodies such as Creative Partnerships.
In addition, she has expertise in the achievement of ethnic minority children, and on including children with difficulties into mainstream schools. She has also trained many London teachers at her school, and welcomed academic researchers in to study how children learn.
Tributes to her tireless energy and her willingness to help others pour in from all sides. “Whenever something new comes up in education we have been doing it here,” says a colleague. She is also praised for her ability to delegate and nurture others. Turkish parents, for example, have been encouraged to hold coffee morning, translate for parents who don’t speak English, and run a Christmas stall. One parent comments: “She recruits fantastic teachers! And she has a way of discovering what everyone’s strength is and she carves a role for them.”
