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Partnership for positive impact.
This award celebrates a group of schools/academies or colleges that have achieved measurable, transformative impact in addressing a key local issue with national relevance. The winner exemplifies a strong moral and community commitment to improving educational outcomes for children and young people.
Entries must showcase a focused area of impact grounded in a persistent local challenge.
Judges will look for clear evidence of impact through quantitative and qualitative data, insight into the community context, and effective collaboration across all partners involved.
Who can enter?
- Open to groups of schools/colleges including MATS and Federations educating children between 4 and 18 in the UK.
- Entries are welcome from state or independent schools.
Nominator Guidance
School or College Partnership of the Year – Nominator Guidance.
What makes a good entry?
Thank you for taking the time to nominate in the School or College Partnership of the Year category. Your nomination plays an important role in showing judges the team’s impact. NB the term nominee throughout this document refers to the whole team.
Awards criteria
A well-structured entry is key. Start with a brief summary that highlights the main reasons for the nomination. Use clear, jargon-free language, and ensure each criterion is addressed thoroughly. Organise the content with headings and sub
headings.
Include details about how the nominee overcomes the most challenging aspects of their role. It’s important that the entry is written by someone who truly knows the nominee well, or that the nominator has consulted with those who do.
Evidence and impact
Evidence of impact is the most important aspect of your entry. Our judges look for clear, concise examples that demonstrate the nominee’s impact on students, colleagues, and the broader education community—whether on a regional or national scale. If, for instance, a Headteacher is credited with turning a school around, it’s important to show exactly how this was achieved.
Impact on Learners: Provide specific examples of their direct influence on learners. Highlight practical evidence of high-quality, inspirational teaching that encourages a love of learning and demonstrates excellent classroom skills. For
teaching assistants and school leaders, include evidence of inspirational support, leadership, and creative approaches that engage and motivate both children and staff.
Impact on Colleagues: Describe how the nominee has positively influenced their colleagues. Have they supported others or helped them improve? Consider their role within the staff community beyond the classroom or staffroom. Have they
boosted morale or consistently uplifted those around them in some way? Our judges love hearing about these contributions, no matter how big or small.
Impact on the Wider School Community: Highlight the nominee’s overall contribution to the life of the school and the community.
Wider Impact: Where a nominee has shown impact further afield, locally or nationally, please detail this and the impact of that work.
Personalised details are what make your nominee truly stand out.
Bring the entry to life
Written statements and quotes provide a much more compelling narrative than data – especially comments from parents or pupils whose lives have been positively impacted by the nominee. These are most effective when they reference something specific, for example, ‘Ms X made a huge difference to me when she… the effect this had was …’
Where relevant, you could include supportive quotes from a broad range of sources, such as senior leaders, businesses, health or social care agencies, and local community voices. These perspectives highlight the nominee’s impact beyond the classroom.
It’s essential that someone who knows the nominee well writes the entire entry, not just detailing what they do but also providing specific examples and the impact of their work. Personalisation is key.
That special something
Put simply, if your nominee isn’t shortlisted, what would our judges be missing out on? Share the values and truly unique examples of practice that set your nominee apart—something related to their role that has made a real difference to children’s lives. Our judges are particularly keen to see initiatives or approaches that are unprecedented in the school or unlikely to be found elsewhere, especially when they demonstrate innovation and determination, rather than just long
working hours. What makes this nominee a National Award winner, and how could showcasing their exceptional practice inspire and benefit other educators across the UK?
Wider contribution
Highlight how your colleague has made a significant contribution beyond their core responsibilities. Consider areas such as their involvement in extra-curricular activities, community engagement, or initiatives that enhance the wider school
environment.
You could examples such as:
- Leading or supporting clubs or events
- Organising or participating in fundraising activities or community outreach programmes or any achievements they have contributed to that reflect their broader impact within the educational community
- Championing eco-friendly initiatives, such as Eco-Schools or sustainability projects or contributing to the development of children through other enrichment activities
Provide clear examples to demonstrate how their efforts have gone above and beyond, enriching the school experience and making a positive impact.
Personal journey and inspiration
To help our judges understand the team as a whole, beyond their role, please share what has shaped their personal and professional journey. Were there key influences from their own education, a significant person, or a defining event in their life? What inspired them to pursue a career in education? Your insight into their motivations and background will help our judges appreciate the individuals behind the educators.
What to avoid when writing your entry?
Data
Unless the criteria specifically request this, although we expect to see some pupil progress or attainment data, or recognition by external agencies to show your nominee’s impact on pupils, our judges prefer this to be kept to a minimum. They carry out due diligence if your entry reaches shortlisting stage. At this point they can obtain data / Ofsted reports.
We want to emphasise the importance of submitting unique, personalised nominations that reflect the individual / team you’re celebrating.
Entries that are not unique
Recently, we’ve noticed that AI-generated or AI-assisted entries often contain repetitive or generic statements that simply echo the criteria without offering real insight. These entries lack the personal touch and specific details that make a
= nomination truly stand out. If you choose to use AI for support, please ensure your entry still reflects your own voice, includes specific examples, and offers personalised evidence or testimonials that highlight the nominee’s unique impact. Remember—it’s the details and authentic stories that truly bring your nominee to life!
Links
You can submit up to 3 additional evidence files along with your written entry. Hyperlinks to other documents, videos, social media etc should be classed as additional evidence and not part of the entry.
Specific guidance for this category
1 Impact
In this section, clearly identify the tight area of focus your partnership is addressing. As per the criteria, this should be rooted in a persistent local challenge, with impact that has wider relevance beyond your immediate context.
Judges are looking for measurable, transformative impact, supported by both quantitative and qualitative evidence.
Consider including:
- What has changed for children and young people as a result of the partnership
- Evidence of improvement
- How the impact goes beyond short-term activity and shows sustained progress
2 Context
Use this section to set the scene concisely.
Describe the community or communities the partnership serves and the local challenge that brought partners together.
This is not a long narrative, but should help judges understand:
- The specific context and need the partnership is responding to
- What the partnership set out to change and why this issue mattered. Provide clear evidence of what has improved as a result of working together.
- Why this issue required a collaborative approach rather than individual action
- How the local context gives the work wider relevance or learning value
3 Collaboration
This section is about how the partnership works and why it is effective.
Be clear about who is involved and the role each partner has played. Judges want to understand how different contributions combine to create impact, and how the partnership adds value beyond what any single organisation could achieve alone.
Please:
- Clearly list all schools, colleges and partners involved
- Explain the role each has played in the work you are presenting
- Show how collaboration has been purposeful, well-structured and focused on impact
Judges are keen to hear evidence from a range of stakeholders, particularly children and young people, showing how the partnership has made a difference in practice.
General tips for a strong School or College Partnership of the Year entry
- Write as someone who knows the partnership well and understands its journey over time.
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Keep the focus tight. A clear, well-evidenced area of impact is stronger than a broad list of activities.
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Provide clear context about the community and demographics served, and why the chosen focus matters locally
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Use evidence confidently – Data and examples to demonstrate the outcomes achieved
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Show impact, not just collaboration. Judges are interested in what changed because you worked together.Show how working together achieved more than individual efforts alone
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Include a range of voices, such as staff, pupils, parents or community partners
Judges will ask themselves
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What local problem is this partnership addressing, and why does it matter?
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What evidence shows the partnership has achieved measurable, meaningful impact?
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How do the different partners add value to the work?
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Why is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?
You can download this information here
Award Criteria
In your entry, identify the tight area of focus that your entry celebrates and exemplifies. Grounded in a local persistent problem, impact will also be of national significance. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- equality, diversity and inclusion
- raising achievement
- wellbeing
- attendance
- literacy & reading
- community cohesion
Please address each of these points in your entry, under the following headings.
Impact
Use quantitative and qualitative data to demonstrate achievement.
Context
State concisely the context of the community you serve.
Collaboration – Being clear about who is in your partnership and the part each has played will help judges see how the collaboration worked in practice and how the different contributions added up to the overall impact.
Show clearly how each aspect of your group partnership contributes to impact, with the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
Specifically address this point: Please clearly list all the schools, colleges or partners involved in your entry and briefly explain the role that each has played in the work you are putting forward. This will help us understand how the partnership is structured and how each partner has contributed to the impact described.
Judges will carefully consider all 3 of these aspects and are keen to hear from a wide range of stakeholders, especially children and young people.
The winner of this award will exemplify the moral and community commitment which underpins achievement.
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