Testimonials

“It might have my name on it- but this award is for everyone that works at Barham Primary School. Our incredible teachers who never give up, our resilient learning assistants who support our children throughout the day and our amazing families who listen, trust us and care.”

Tina Murray, Barham Primary School
Winner, The Award for Excellence in Special Needs Education, 2019

Knowing that my school had nominated me for the Pearson National Teaching Award for Excellence in Special Needs Education was very overwhelming. Never in a million years did I think I would be shortlisted let alone win… In fact, I still do not think it has sunk in. The Gold award means so much to me, our school and our community. It might have my name on it- but this award is for everyone that works at Barham Primary School. Our incredible teachers who never give up, our resilient learning assistants who support our children throughout the day and our amazing families who listen, trust us and care.

I haven’t always been a SENDCo but I have fallen madly in love with SEND. I love my job, I love helping staff, children and families to ensure our SEND children succeed just as well as any other child… even more If I have my way.

Each child at Barham is unique and wonderful and every day is different, but because we have amazing staff, our children always feel safe, happy and therefore learn something new every day. Watching them grow and change is what makes everything worth it.

I am very lucky to work at Barham Primary School. I have a headteacher who listens and trusts my judgements and wonderful families that believe in us. Barham is a very special place to be and work. I know that teaching is hard and I know it doesn’t always get great press, but being a teacher is the only thing I would want to do.

“To hear that you truly are making a difference is a great thing – because ultimately, it is why we all got into teaching in the first place.”

Toni Knight, Head of Department
P.E, Sport and Dance Teaching Team, Wyke Sixth Form College
Winner, the Award for FE Team of the Year, 2019

ON WINNING

We are honoured to be part of this process, and we truly never expected to get this far. The team and I work tirelessly every day of every academic year, as I’m sure do many teachers across the country. It is a very tough job with many challenges, so for anyone to go out of their way to recognise what we do, and say thankyou- it means the world to us! The awards ceremony in Camden was an incredible experience, and having national recognition for a role we are all so passionate about, is a huge accolade, but one of the best things has been the messages received since from current and alumni students and parents. Hearing their stories beyond Wyke, how we helped them to get there and their messages of support and thanks has been for us the most rewarding aspect out of the whole process. To hear that you truly are making a difference is a great thing- because ultimately, it is why we all got into teaching in the first place.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CELEBRATING THE TEACHING PROFESSION

There is so much negative news in the world today, and even since this awards ceremony, so many negative statistics being used by the media about teaching; particularly about dropout rates from the career. No teacher will hide the fact that being in education is tough, and the teaching career has so many challenges on a daily basis. However, ask any teacher as they start their career, and none of that content will be mentioned about why they are pursuing this career choice. It is about time that as a country we focus more of our time and energy on the positive news in the UK, and celebrate our successes, and I think the Pearson National Teaching Awards is doing just that. What an amazing way to say ‘thankyou’ back to teachers across the country who are developing the next generation. Knowing how tough the career is, there really is no extrinsic alternative that can beat the feeling of anyone saying thankyou, and recognising what you’ve been doing day in, day out.

ON FORMATIVE TEACHERS

It was definitely former teachers who inspired me to join the profession, and I was actually lucky enough to be at the National Teaching Awards sitting right beside one of the most influential and inspiring teachers on my career journey; Julie Peaks, now Deputy Principal at Wyke Sixth Form College, but former Head of PE at Wyke. I attended Wyke Sixth Form as a student myself, and PE was my favourite subject out of my A-levels. I was taught by Julie Peaks at this time, and she not only encouraged and supported my journey into teaching after college, but her teaching values really resonated with me, and are still now at the core of my own practice; as a teacher, and now as a Head of Department. Students come first in everything we do at Wyke, and making sure that regardless of starting point, every student has not only the opportunity and support to succeed, but the inspiration and drive to aim high. I hope others would agree that these principles are still at the core of the department, and even though the educational climate has changed a lot over the decade since I was a student, that these values are still hugely important to any student in education.

AT WHAT POINT IN YOUR CAREER DID YOU WIN YOUR AWARD?

I actually studied my A-levels at Wyke Sixth Form College, and here I got both the academic qualifications along with the encouragement and support to progress onto Loughborough University to study Sport and Exercise Science. I, like many other Wyke students still to this day, was the first generation in my family to go to university, so to then also gain a place at the most prestigious sporting university in the UK was an amazing opportunity for me.

Before starting at Loughborough, I already knew my aim was to become a PE teacher, and being in such a driven and proactive university institution, I engaged with so many life-changing opportunities that gave me the experience to progress onto a PGCE place at Loughborough, but also impact the teaching practices and experiences I still bring to my job today as well. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, completing charity work in Ghana, engaging in the biggest AU Dance club in the country are just three things I experienced here, and have brought into my own teaching department by giving my students the same experiences. After my studies at Loughborough, including a 1^st hons in Sport and Exercise Science, PGCE and Distinction in my Masters in Education, I was hired as an NQT at Wyke Sixth Form College, and I could not have been happier to be back at Wyke, because I know Wyke aligns whole-heartedly with my own teaching values; that education has the ability to transform lives. I have been teaching at Wyke for 7 years now, and my role has changed and developed over time.

I started as a PE and Sport teacher, took on Dance A-level in 2016 as well as Head of Subject for A-level PE, and became Head of Department (PE, Sport and Dance) soon after. This award has come at a point where over the last 3 years I have developed into a leadership role, managed the departments transition to new teaching specifications, maintaining top 10% outcomes in the country for PE and Sport, and taken Dance as a subject from a low achieving department to gaining 100% A*-B rate in 2019 and National Champions in the ‘That’s Showbiz’ national competition.

HAS WINNING THE AWARD CHANGED HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT TEACHING?

I don’t think anyone or anything can change the way myself or the department feel about teaching. Everyone in the team will still say, even after winning, that we have just been doing what we consider as our job, and this is what we do on a daily basis. Nor will anything ever change our own personal reasons of why we have chosen this as our career path. For us however, the chance to recognise and celebrate the hard work of teachers across the country is invaluable. I really hope that the stories shared from all the nominees and winners make teachers across the country feel appreciated, and hopefully inspire the next generation to join the profession.

The department has had to adapt to a hugely changing educational climate over the years, and this shows no signs of slowing down. We’ve switched over to linear A-levels, in September we will be switching to the new externally assessed BTEC frameworks and with the continued funding difficulties in 6^th forms, there has been a lot of adaptations to our teaching. In our department, the team have also made a very conscious effort to develop a range of employability skills and opportunities for our students to ensure they stand the best chance of progression, and what this looks like has ranged massively for different students. Whether this has been gaining additional qualifications such as studying Personal Training qualification alongside their academic studies, engaging with local employers, apprenticeship providers and Universities, through to developing skills such as leadership, communication and organisation through our curriculum. We’ve seen a very positive improvement on our destination data through this work, and I think this is so important to ensure students do not just become assessment-sitting machines- but they develop as a well-rounded young adult ready for the worldWe are in an extremely lucky position at Wyke to be at that point to support students in making one of the biggest decisions in their lives; what they want to be when they are older, and what pathway they will take to get there. Through that guidance, followed by the support to get the required academic qualifications, and then ultimately waving them off when they get into University or hired onto an apprenticeship or employment, you really get to build a relationship with students because they are making one of the most important decisions of their lives. We are so lucky in our department, in that students are keen to stay in touch and tell us about their successes; especially when they come back for our alumni sporting events. We’ve had several students go off to America to study and play football through our scholarship links, and its amazing to see the likes of Sophie Haywood now playing at Aston Villa and Jemma Purfield at Liverpool; both at the forefront of women’s elite football in the UK as it grows from strength to strength. We have alumni like Dan Williams on ‘Love Island’, several other students currently working with top elite sporting teams in their analysis department, including Ryan Madra at Hull City. Probably the most special stories for us, however, are those that have gone into teaching. Just this September, we hired an NQT into our own department, Demi-lee Easter, who studied on our BTEC Extended Diploma in Sport course at Wyke Sixth Form College. For us, that is the ultimate privilege; because not only does that mean we have done our job in terms of support, but it also means we have inspired the next generation of teachers.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT TEACHING?

Every year when students leave us to go off onto university, or apprenticeships, or employment, I feel honoured that I have had the opportunity to be part of that process. Education really does have the power to transform lives, and I am a huge believer of this. That’s what keeps me here; because no matter how tough the job can be, knowing this, and seeing it occur year on year for our students makes me proud to call myself a teacher, and know that I have contributed in some small way to helping them have a successful career and a happy life!

WHAT’S THE BEST QUALITY IN A TEACHER?

In my opinion, the best quality in a teacher is being someone who genuinely cares and makes students feel both like an individual, and like they can achieve anything. This has never been more important in a time where the mental health of our younger generations is at an all time low. We’ve got it wrong if students feel like a ‘number’, and feel their only core purpose of being in education is to get a good exam result in that subject. I do understand this is not easy to do; with class sizes growing and the pressure on teachers to produce amazing academic outcomes, it can be tough to not feel the pressure, but making sure every single student feels valued and taking an interest in them as a person, to me, is so important. It’s the reason why we all chose the teaching profession; because we care about the younger generation! The best teachers never forget that, and make time for it every day.

ADVICE TO SOMEONE JOINING THE PROFESSION

Teaching is hard; but you don’t go into this profession because it’s easy, you choose it because you whole-heartedly want to make a difference. Every single day will be completely different. You will become not only a teacher, but a mentor, a shoulder to cry on, a plate spinner, a role model, a photocopying expert, a comedian, a mediator; so many different roles. Students will make you want to both laugh and cry; you will experience some of their most stressful times, but also their happiest. Sometimes, students will drive you up the wall, but every single one of them will make you feel proud beyond measure at some point. There will be things that frustrate you about the education system, but ultimately you will power on through regardless because you want to ensure every single student has the best opportunities in life. Then when you get the chance to stand back and look at the impact you’ve had, you can genuinely say you have changed people’s lives.

“Can you imagine, my passion is my job and I was being rewarded for a job I love?  It was one of my proudest moments!”

Jashu Vekaria
Winner, the Award for Teacher of the Year in a Primary School, 2016
Currently Deputy Headteacher Uxendon Manor Primary School

ON WINNING

It was wonderful receiving the award as it felt I was the voice for all teachers.  As you can imagine winning such a prestigious award makes you feel both humble and elated. My career began in the London Borough of Harrow in 2002, 16 years later I won the teaching awards while working in the London Borough of Brent.  My passion for teaching remains strong and the award was a wonderful affirmation on rewarding me for a job that I simply love to do.

Following on from the award I was given many opportunities to be on TV, radio, newspapers and even written my own articles. Achievements and experiences beyond my wildest dreams and personal precious moments; these privileges would never have had happened without this award.  My career has taken an upward turn as I have reflected even more as a practitioner and have now completed my National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH).

Teaching for learning is in my blood and the experience does make you question the impact you are having on every single learner.  Striving for excellence for all pupils has always been my aim.  Every child does matter and the many roles as a teacher, carer, nurse, counsellor, negotiator and investigator highlights what a diverse and rewarding career I have the honour to be part of.

Furthermore, this year I was shortlisted for the Asian Woman of Achievement awards for teaching.  During the awards ceremony I received a high commendation.  This was truly a wow moment too as it showed how far teaching has come.  It felt like a corporate event in a very corporate world so to represent the teaching profession was fantastic.

THE JOB, CHANGES AND CHALLENGES

Teaching is my vocation.  It is the very essence of me and I have always wanted to be a teacher from a very young age.  However, it was my first head teacher who noticed my potential when I was a newly qualified teacher.  She really encouraged me and focused her energy on the quiet, shy person I was back then.  Her praise and care, allowed me to blossom and my self-confidence as a teacher grew.  Shortly afterwards, I became an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) and my role within the school developed, as did my role in the borough – this is when I started in-reach and out-reach work.

My teaching style has adapted to the numerous changes the government throws our way.  I have always had a friendly, relaxed approach with my pupils.  Learning should be fun yet at the same time, progress needs to occur in every single lesson.  This has always been my motivation.

Pastoral care is as old as time in teaching.  This is the heart of teaching.  Of course learners need to learn the academics, however, if a child has come to school without breakfast – we feed them.  He or she has a dirty jumper – we clothe them.  If a child is thirsty or hurt physically or emotionally we take care of them. If these things are not in place – how can a learner learn? It is part of the job, however it is more than a job – it is my life.

Everybody has an opinion on teaching – whether it is positive or negative.  Social media just feeds their ideas – both positive and negative. Linking back to the teaching awards, this was extremely beneficial because it connected me to the world at large.  The sense of achievement felt profound because I felt inspired by all the comments from around the world.  Being Asian, my community (and the wider world) really supported and encouraged me.  Also, being a woman, I feel I have now inspired others.  In life you have to give and take and I believe I education reflects this.

DEFINING MOMENTS 

My most memorable experience in teaching is taking a child with special educational needs to a 5 day residential.  This child (because of his needs) needed to bring his parents.  So that his parents could be part of this amazing, once in a life time experience, I needed to vacate my teacher room and be placed in a hut in the back of the woods (no electricity or running water but extra spiders for special measure)!  However, the look of pure joy both on this child’s face and the parents will be eternally etched in my memory.

My most memorable moment in teaching has to be dancing with Strictly Come Dancing dancer  –  Brendan Cole!  As a ‘treat’ for winning the Teaching Award, the news was broken to me with a surprise guest.  My heart was pounding like an African drum.  Strictly is the best show ever!  However, underpinning this was the emotion I felt as my career flashed before my very eyes… Can you imagine, my passion is my job and I was being rewarded for a job I love?  It was one of my proudest moments!

Many pupils come back and visit me and say I made their educational experience exciting and that they remember me.  I am always so touched and honoured when this happens.

ADVICE 

Be positive! Seek advice! Have fun!  It can be a lonely once you start your career as everybody seems to know what they are doing!  However, there are such wonderful teachers out there who want to coach and mentor as well as take these young teachers under their wings so that eventually they can fly.  This is what happened to me at my school in Harrow and I will be forever grateful for this.

THE TEACHING PROFESSION 

Teaching has been recycled over the years – it is like fashion.  If it’s topical to state children cannot read, then there is a big push on reading.  If writing is not good enough, then there is a big push on grammar.  If we are being compared to China and Singapore, then it’s our maths which needs to change.  We can either embrace the change or we can be negative and despondent with our attitude.  Personally, I will always embrace change as we are all evolving.  Nothing is stagnant – not just in teaching but in life too.

I love teaching! It keeps you young and the children are the heart of it all. The feel good factor of getting up daily for a job you love – nothing can beat it! Realising that you are living your dream is an indescribable feeling.  Knowing that you are teaching the future generation will always give you a natural high.

Ultimately, you need to love this job and you have to want to be here. It can be hard when a child is hurting emotionally.  It can affect family life when you are in school for 14 hours a day.  So to encourage others to stay is a tricky question to answer.  Why would you encourage somebody if they do not want to stay?  I can advise them, coach them, mentor them but at the end of the day it will be their decision.

“Anybody who wins one will tell you it’s a team effort”

Ingrid Spencer
Winner Of The Award For Most Outstanding New Teacher 2001
Now deputy headteacher, Oaklands Primary School, Leicester

ON WINNING

Winning the teaching award was a fantastic fillip for the whole school and anybody who wins one will tell you it’s a team effort. For me the most wonderful part was reading my students’ nominations. I was amazed by how many there were and what they had said. It didn’t immediately impact on my day-to-day work but gave me some lovely opportunities and a wider sense of the profession I was part of.

I’ve always wanted to teach and never lost that desire.  I’ve had a very winding career path with lots of changes of role and setting, which I highly recommend. It makes for a very interesting work life!

I started teaching in 1992 on the Japan Exchange Teacher Program (JET) and I worked in Japan for three years on that and then for two years as an Eikaiwa teacher returning to Britain in 1997. I did one year as an SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) TA (Teaching Assistant) in an inner city secondary school, then my PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) course so I started my official teaching career in the UK in August 1999.  I won my Most Outstanding New Teacher award in 2001.

THE JOB, CHANGES AND CHALLENGES

I have always wanted to be a teacher and I remain one because I’m a learner. I’ve been doing it for 27 years and I learn something new about the job, about the students and about myself every single day. It’s a phenomenal job.

I think my teaching style has changed over the years in some ways inevitably because I’ve now taught every age and stage of teaching that’s possible, from TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), to EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) and up to Masters level at a University. I’m currently a deputy in a special school for autistic children. Obviously you need to adapt your style to suit the students and the course/ subject that you’re teaching. However, fundamental things have stayed the same: I want my students to learn about themselves and about the world, not just about the subject at hand. Most of all I want any student of mine to develop their ability to communicate what it is they think, feel and believe.

I don’t think that pastoral care is a bigger part of teaching now than when I began. I think it’s always been a big part of the job; however perhaps we are, as a profession, now more aware of young people‘s mental health and the need to nurture as well as challenge them. Having taught adults as well as children from age four upwards, I would say that is true of all learners. Relationships and mutual respect and struggle are the cornerstones for good learning.

Social media from me is invaluable as a learner and leader. I have become a huge fan of EduTwitter and finding people online with expertise and experience that I don’t have is really valuable to me.  Since starting a new job in a school for autistic children in January I have learnt enormous amounts about how the world might be experienced if you are autistic by following #ActuallyAutistic adults on Twitter. It has transformed my understanding and given me insights that would otherwise take years of in-school practice to acquire. In such a short period of time I couldn’t possibly gain the same level of understanding through simply reading a book or by waiting for CPD course to come around. You can also find your tribe online, get advice, even coaching. However, there are some difficulties inherent in how social media functions as Cambridge Analytica has shown us and I don’t think we fully understand the impact it will have on developing brains and social skills as yet.

DEFINING MOMENTS 

My best moments in teaching have all been while working with amazing stories, from recreating the birth of Greek gods from chaos to order with 60 year 6 children, to watching two year 3 teachers orate the pre-battle speeches from Rosemary Sutcliffe’s The Eagle’s’ Egg whilst their classes got into combat formation, to my year 11 class spontaneously talk about their fathers after listening to me read the creature’s story from Frankenstein. It is a privilege to share those moments when story connects us as humans, as we are all raised up out of the mundane and into the magical.

The moments that I am most proud of my teaching career are when a student connects with a text or an idea and it visibly shifts their sense of themselves and the world. It is pure joy in those moments and you can never quite predict when or where they will come, even if you plan for awe and wonder! Another favourite thing is when someone says ‘Oh I prefer the book to the film or the TV show now’- that thrills me to bits.

I’m always delighted when I see former students, although many of my students have now got children of their own, which makes me feel very old. I have however kept a professional distance from most, except one who I initially nicknamed ‘naughty Lucy’ due to her tendency to get into arguments and intrigues. She was in my first ever A-level class, stayed with me for three years completing A Level English Literature and then staying to complete Communication & Culture.  She went on to do a fascinating piece of literary research to earn her PhD and is now an academic registrar. She is still stroppy and fabulous and I’m thrilled to say that I’ve known her now for half of her life.

ADVICE 

The best piece of advice I can give a newly qualified teacher is ‘find your tribe.’ Make sure that the school you choose to work in is the school that will let you be creative and make mistakes and isn’t too long a commute- the teaching day is long enough as it is! Get yourself a good support network; it doesn’t have to be face-to-face, it could be joining a twitter tribe. #WomenEd #BAMEd #LGBTEd are all fantastic grassroots movements on Twitter and there is a twitter group for almost every subject or specialism too. You will get support, great resources and an endless supply of inspirational quotes.

What I wish I’d known as an NQT is something that I used to tell my PGCE tutees and I still tell staff now: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

THE TEACHING PROFESSION 

Teaching is a very complex and demanding job; nobody gets it right all the time. If there was one way to make a perfect lesson, everybody would teach that one way all the time, but there is no magic bullet.  So don’t focus on individual lessons, try and think about the whole day, the whole week and remember the magic moments.

Education has changed a great deal since I started teaching, particularly in terms of government policy.  There was no national curriculum until 1999, we’ve had levels, not had levels; added SATS, taken away SATs, had A*-U and now 1-9; and OFSTED has been invented. All of those things can make teaching seem all about data,  as if outcomes is the tail wagging the dog of learning. In that accountability landscape, children can get lost but it’s our job to make sure that children (and learners of all kinds, including teachers) are always at the heart of everything that we do. Teachers need to be led by head teachers and senior leaders who are close to the ‘shop floor’, who put people before processes, and who actively work to keep workload manageable.   We need to share resources and work together more and find a way to not be competing. I stay in teaching because I can’t think of another job where I can learn something new every single day. There are some terrible lows but immeasurable highs and constant challenges in the best sense of the word.

To encourage others to stay in teaching, we need lots of stories about how wonderful it can be to be in the classroom, but we also need to be honest about workload, stress, the effects of external scrutiny and poor school leaders. We also need to remember that it might just be the wrong school for us, not the wrong job. My best piece of advice is: Before you give up teaching, try a new school.

“I went into teaching believing that I could change the world and make a positive difference in the lives of young people especially those for whom life is a real challenge.  Although I have been doing it for nearly 30 years and there have been huge changes I still absolutely believe that!”

David Bennett
Winner of the Award for Secondary Teacher of the Year 2001
Currently Headteacher At The Winstanley School

ON WINNING

I think the best thing about the award was reading and hearing some fantastic things that students wrote about my teaching.  I think teachers rarely hear that and I actually think that students should be encouraged to thank their teachers more and tell them what a great job they are doing.

I think the biggest difference was that the award increased my confidence in what I was doing in the classroom as it had been validated by a group of National Judges.  This meant that I had the confidence to share teaching and learning ideas and strategies that I used with a wide variety of audiences. I knew it already, but I guess it absolutely confirmed that teaching and working in schools is my vocation and where I will be all my working life. It also confirmed my decision to work in schools in challenging situations rather than taking an easier option.

Winning the award probably meant that my move to be an Advanced Skills Teacher was accelerated, but I think that was where I was always going to go next in my career. I didn’t move from that school for another 11 years, so it didn’t change my career in that aspect.

I began teaching in 1989 and was teaching in the same school when I won my award in 2001.

THE JOB, CHANGES AND CHALLENGES

My dad was a teacher and he kept trying to persuade me to teach, but as a teenager I didn’t want to do the same job as my dad.  However, when I got to University I decided to apply for a PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) and as soon as I was in the classroom I knew it was the job for me.

I think when I started I probably tried lots of different teaching and learning strategies without really examining the evidence of their success or otherwise.  However, as I gained experience I developed a bank of strategies which were tried and tested and I knew both engaged students and delivered great outcomes. As a headteacher now I don’t have my own classes, but I do quite a lot of cover and find myself reverting to the strategies I found most successful.

I think pastoral care has always been a crucial part of teaching.  I think the key element of successful teachers is nearly always the way that they relate to the students, build relationships with them and make sure that the students know that they genuinely care about them.

I would love to say the impact of social media has been all positive and has enabled us to share all sorts of resources and ideas across the teaching profession and build links with schools and communities around the world.  However, in my role as a teacher and now as a Headteacher one of the biggest areas of conflict and issues between young people is via social media. It does feel sometimes that if there was no social media the number of incidents would at least be halved!

DEFINING MOMENTS 

I think it is impossible to beat being awarded National Secondary teacher of the Year and then an MBE for services to education! However, I find on a day to day basis there are so many little things that are memorable and most of all those times when I feel that I have made a real difference in the life of a young person.

Every time I have managed to get a young person engaged who was struggling to learn in my lessons has given me a great sense of pride.  This is especially true if they have gone on to get a great GCSE grade when it looked like they had no chance. I also do love it when I meet someone I used to teach who says I used to really enjoy your lessons, or your lessons were always my favourite.

I am a headteacher now and this year I have had the privilege of employing an ex-student as one of our learning support assistants in her year off before University. It has been an absolute pleasure seeing how she has developed.  She has gone from being someone who was quite anxious about things when I taught her to an outstanding colleague who is completely relaxed working with young people with very complex needs.  I feel that the relationship we built up when I was teaching her has enabled me to trust her to take on a challenging and difficult role and see her really fly with it.

ADVICE 

Teaching is hard work, but nothing worth doing is ever going to be easy.  You will need to be resilient and stick at it. It will get easier and you will find there are incredible rewards in terms of seeing young people’s lives changed.  Don’t ever lose the desire to make a positive difference and change the world!

THE TEACHING PROFESSION 

There have been all sorts of changes – mobile phones, tablets, increased use of data, accountability, OFSTED, however, the thing that strikes me most is that I don’t think what makes a great teacher has changed at all!

In a naive way I went into teaching believing that I could change the world and make a positive difference in the lives of young people especially those for whom life is a real challenge.  Although I have been doing it for nearly 30 years and there have been huge changes I still absolutely believe that!

People need to know that teaching is a vocation and be able to see the amazing difference they can make in the lives of young people.  But they also need to know that anything worth doing is a challenge and will be hard work. At the same time, I would love to see a time when our politicians and policy makers really acknowledge the outstanding work that so many schools and teachers do.

“I visited each classroom with the Gold Plato, and it really felt like I’d won an Oscar”

Sue Jay
Winner of the Award for Excellence in Special Needs Education, 2017
Head of Creative Arts at Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee School

ON WINNING

I have spent my whole career teaching, starting at the age of 21 and I will be retiring on July 24^th, two days after my 60^th birthday. So winning the award in my final year has been the perfect end to my career!

I have loved my job working in special education for 33 of my 39 years and to have my work recognised like this has been the icing on the cake. During the Awards weekend I repeatedly said ‘Things like this don’t happen to teachers’. To be made to feel so special was such a thrill. When I returned to school it was clear how much it meant to the children too, they were so proud and excited. I visited each classroom with the Gold Plato, and it really felt like I’d won an Oscar. For schools and teachers to be recognised in such a positive way is something the “Teaching Awards” should be very proud of.

THE JOB, CHANGES AND CHALLENGES

Although I started working as a teacher at 21 it was never my aim.  But over the years I have gained in confidence and can be much more flexible in my presentation. I worked in a secondary school for 5 years before joining a special school and then as a nursery teacher here, I’m now head of creative arts and I am passionate about schools dedicating time to the subject.

There’s so much scientific evidence if you search for it that a creative brain comes out in your maths and science. If you deprive your creative side, everything drops.

DEFINING MOMENTS 

My most memorable moment in teaching was without doubt receiving the Teaching Award, and especially the BBC film being watched by thousands of people.  My students are amazing and this came across so brilliantly in the film.  And I’ve made a difference to their lives.

ADVICE 

My advice to anyone coming into the profession for the first time would be to stay at work late each day if you can so that you can have your weekend free from school work. It is very important to re-charge your batteries.  I have never achieved this, but I wish I had.  I spent far too much time doing school work when I should have been spending quality time with my own children.

THE TEACHING PROFESSION 

The profession hasn’t changed (apart from the ridiculous amount of paperwork and more rigid curriculum) and that is the problem!!! It has to change, or we will end up with no teachers.  We expect young people to enter a profession that is 40 years out of date.  The only way to keep the profession alive will be to structure it as a 9 to 5, five days a week, four weeks holiday properly paid profession.  Young people are not prepared to work seven days a week, 7-7 for not enough money, and frankly I don’t blame them.

The turnover in teachers is immense and I’m worried that new teachers are going to be taught by pretty inexperienced young people.  New teachers do come to us oldies sometimes just to talk to someone more experienced.  I get angry and sad; the government has now admitted that 35,000 teachers left the profession in 2016 (not including retirees!)

” Winning the Pearson Teaching Award has helped me to dream bigger and be ambitious.“

Richard Brown
Winner, the Award for Excellence in Special Needs Education, 2016
Currently Head of Performing Arts at Cricket Green School

ON WINNING

Winning the award was absolutely fantastic. I felt completely overwhelmed – but in a lovely way. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did without the support of lots of other people, it was very much a team effort and in some ways it was as if I was just the one who lifted the trophy for the whole team. Since winning the award I’ve appeared on BBC Breakfast TV and interviewed by Louise Minchin, I was offered a Head Teacher’s job and I’ve been asked to speak at seminars in London.

THE JOB, CHANGES AND CHALLENGES

When I left school I did part of a primary school degree then left and went to work as a children’s entertainer on a cruise ship, then I wanted to get into Kids TV. Having done some work in schools a friend asked me if I could help out at Cricket Green and honestly it was the coolest experience.  I just didn’t want to leave.   I became interested in counselling after seeing the impact drama and art therapy can have on the young people at our school. So I completed a Psychotherapy degree and set up a small counselling service. The knowledge and insight I gained from the study has had a positive impact on the way I teach and interact with both pupils and staff alike. It made me so aware of everything else that is going on for the young people in my care, just under the surface.

I’m now head of performing arts at Cricket Green but started here as an assistant 9 years ago. I did on-the-job training to complete an Education degree and become a qualified teacher.  I have been using drama in the majority of my lessons since I first started at the school. Drama, music and art are just amazing ways to help pupils access the curriculum. Many of my pupils have spent years in mainstream settings, never being able to achieve levels close to their peers in academic subjects. However, many pupils have come to our school and unlocked talents they have in the arts that perhaps they never knew existed. We’ve performed Shakespeare, produced music festivals, made films and put on numerous productions on the main stages of local theatres. There have been many occasions when members of the public and parents and pupils from other schools have no idea that we are a special school and that the pupils that have just been entertaining them actually have a range of complex and diverse learning needs – that gives me a real buzz!

The children I work with have diverse needs, many of these pupils also joined our school with their confidence and self-esteem at rock bottom. Our aim is not to view their learning difficulties as a barrier, instead to encourage the things that they are good at as well as help them to work as part of a team and develop social skills and communication. Our aim has always been for them to leave our school feeling that they are important, that they can recognise their own unique talents and that they absolutely can achieve.

However, the reality is that quite often we as a school will build these young people up but then a lot of the services and provisions begin to taper off once they leave. There have been numerous examples of capable ex pupils who have returned to our school for a visit several years on, only to report that they had finished a college course and now spend their days doing nothing at all. This for me is a great sadness, and a waste of potential.

There’s an initiative in America called Project Search, it’s a scheme that aims to get learning difficulties to get into employment. It works with in house training schemes which break down small tasks that perhaps you and I might take for granted and breaks them in to smaller more manageable tasks. These are then practiced until they are secure. Only then will new skills be attempted. The hope is that, these skills will be transferrable to other work places and the young people work their way into paid employment in a job that suits their particular skills. This initiative is now running throughout the UK and we as a school have close links with St George’s hospital which has Project Search based there. It has been running for five years and currently 74 percent of all trainees have gained employment either inside or out of the hospital. This is versus a national average that is closer to two percent of those with learning difficulties gaining employment.

I’m currently doing a Senior Leaders course and, as much as it’s nice to teach drama, really my engagement with Project Search has made me think about the bigger picture. As a result, in the future I would like to set up and co-ordinate a similar scheme, teaching young people functional skills and helping them work towards paid and meaningful employment. In an ideal world a new learning centre tailored specifically towards this. Obviously still with plenty of drama, music and art thrown in for good measure. I think that winning the Pearson Teaching Award has helped me to dream bigger and be ambitious.

DEFINING MOMENTS

Luke is a former pupil with autism I taught several years ago. Prior to coming to Cricket Green he was out of mainstream education for 15 months because he was bullied relentlessly because other pupils did not understand him. He has now left our school and has just completed his second year at university studying drama. He is currently on course to get a 2:1 in his drama degree. He is also volunteering at our school helping me teach my drama lessons.

ADVICE

I was fortunate that I have loved the school I first worked in, but I would say to anyone else who is just starting out and having a tough time, I would say it does get easier and also schools vary so much that if your current placement doesn’t feel right that doesn’t necessarily mean the next school will be the same. If one school isn’t right for you try another until you find what feels right.  I worked at several Primary schools during my initial degree and it felt ok. Several years later I worked at a number of Special schools and it just felt right. From there, ten years on I now work in special needs school which I absolutely love.

THE TEACHING PROFESSION

I would say the profession needs to look at teaching what is relevant to young people. They are all so unique, with different interests and talents that the more our curriculums reflect this the more positive the outcomes. In the case of Special Needs settings I feel that there needs to be a more universal approach, with increased emphasis on preparing young people for adulthood from a much earlier age. Such as communicating wants and needs, likes and dislikes, life skills, developing hobbies and interests and employability.

“I never considered that the job I was doing was any more worthy of an award than other fantastic head teachers I knew; however, I recognised an opportunity to raise the profile of a school community in a deprived inner-city area, which previously only ever received negative media attention.”

Tracy Stone
Winner, Headteacher of the Year in a  Primary School, 2006
Now works as a leadership consultant and Ofsted inspector

ON WINNING

The win was for everyone and not just for me…all the teachers, leaders, governors and parents who had shaped my journey as a teacher and a leader. But most of all it was for the Handsworth community and ultimately the very special and talented pupils of Rookery School.

On my return to school I was greeted not only by Rookery staff, parents and pupils but with bouquets of flowers from parents of pupils at other local schools together with tradespeople from along Rookery Rd; apparently the cheers could be heard all around Handsworth on that Sunday night as people tuned into watch the broadcast on BBC 2.

I realised then just how important the award was, moreover that I was not just an ambassador for teaching, education and Rookery School, but for Handsworth. What an amazing thing…

I was a reluctant entrant into the competition, and in many ways a reluctant winner, but having been surprisingly nominated by a challenging governor – I was persuaded to go along with it by my deputy head. I never considered that the job I was doing was any more worthy of an award than other fantastic head teachers I knew; however, I recognised an opportunity to raise the profile of a school community in a deprived inner-city area, which previously only ever received negative media attention.

I was a late entrant to the teaching profession. I left school at 16, disillusioned with the education system and worked in many unfulfilling roles in local government. At 23 as a young mum I decided to return to education via the Open University. Working part-time to pay my fees I juggled roles and gained what I considered to be a degree of ‘convenience’; fitting in around an already busy life.

I began my teaching career in a large, innovative, inner-city primary school at 30 and absolutely loved it! I never looked back, was promoted rapidly, spent some time as an advisory teacher for the local authority before I took up a headship at 40 at an inner-city school in ‘special measures’ – a challenge I relished. The school developed and went from strength to strength…9 years on I won the Primary Head Teacher of The Year Award.

THE JOB, CHANGES AND CHALLENGES

I am passionate about teaching and as a champion of the children, I believe that everything a teacher does must be designed to have a positive impact on pupils or there is absolutely no reason to do it. Teaching is hard, hard work, headship is also an impossible task; however, teachers and leaders who are dedicated to improving the life chances of the pupils they teach, do an amazing job and are absolutely selfless in pursuit of their aim. Those who do it for other reasons don’t survive in the profession and frankly the profession doesn’t need them.

Following the award, I remained as head teacher at Rookery (many thought that I wouldn’t!); developed the school still further – opened a Children’s Centre, a resource base for autism and a community arts hub. Never a day passed by when I wasn’t proud of the children and their achievements as budding authors, mathematicians, musicians, actors, dancers, historians…

We confidently converted to academy status in 2011, the second primary school in the country to do so. I continued to support new headteachers within Birmingham local authority and began to work as an Ofsted Inspector. Importantly, having seen first-hand the power of Teaching Awards to transform communities – I became their biggest advocate and for many years was a judge within the West Midlands region. I never considered these roles to be conflicting; in fact, they enhanced each other.

I think sometimes we as teachers, underestimate the power and influence that we have, not only over young lives but over whole communities.

I retired from headship in December 2015 but still continue to work as a leadership consultant and as an Ofsted Inspector.