Joanna Lumley and Michael Parkinson join Changing Room star to pay tribute to the nation’s outstanding teachers.
EVERYONE is already a winner and Sunday’s national Teaching Awards ceremony will be a tear-jerker from start to finish.
Changing Rooms presenter Carol Smillie will kick off by calling the nation’s most outstanding new teacher to the stage of London’s Theatre Royal and, from then on, there will be scarcely a dry eye in the house.
The 114 regional winners from England, Wales and Northern Ireland have each been nominated for a national award in one of 10 categories. But the event is not just a party: over the weekend, heads, teachers and assistants will share good practice.
Absoutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley, chatshow host Michael Parkinson and footballer Sol Campbell are among the celebrities handing out the so-called “Plato” awards to the 10 national winners. Education Secretary Estelle Morris will also attend the ceremony.
There were more than 1,500 nominations for this year’s awards.
Samuel Reed, a pupil at Cressex community school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, nominated PE teacher Neil Moon for the new teacher prize after the way he dealt with the suicide of a classmate. He said: “He showed a great deal of sympathy. He made time to keep asking us how we were feeling.” Peter Harrison, head of Year 8 at Cressex, said: “The fact that 8C and others were able to recover so positively is, in many ways, due to his caring but firm handling of many delicate situations.”
Two nominations particularly struck Ted Wragg, professor of education at Exeter University and chair of the national judges panel. One was from a 15-year-old girl who said of her teacher: “If I can be half the person she is, I’ll be proud.” The other was from a grandmother of a travelling family, impressed by the trouble her grandchild’s head had taken to understand traveller culture.
Regional winners have already won pound;2,000 for their school plus pound;1,000 worth of ICT equipment. National winners get pound;13,000 and pound;9,000 worth of ICT equipment.
Carolyn Taylor, chief executive of the awards, said: “These national awards identify for the nation 10 role models. Really though the celebrations are for the 114 winners. They are truly outstanding. They are all our stars.”
Friday magazine, 26 Full list of winners in next week’s Friday magazine The awards ceremony will be on BBC1 on Sunday November 4
