If you want to be dazzled by the sheer range of work being done by teachers in schools across the UK, or simply cheered up about the state of education today, just look through the shortlist for this year’s TES Schools Awards.

The nominees range from a giant, high-tech secondary in Cornwall, which has gained international recognition for its use of computers, to a tiny primary on the Isle of Skye, which is spreading the traditional Scottish sport of shinty to schools in Ireland.

Teachers, parents and pupils submitted a record number of entries for the awards, now in their fourth year, making choosing the shortlist for each of the 15 categories fiendishly difficult.

Education secretary Michael Gove has congratulated all the nominated schools. “Great schools and brilliant teachers achieve amazing things for their students,” he says. “I am delighted that their efforts are recognised by the TES Schools Awards.”

Schools in the running for the Primary School of the Year Award include Iqra Community Primary in inner-city Bradford. It was burned down in an arson attack a year after it opened in 2001, but its staff were not deterred and it has twice gone on to be rated “outstanding” by inspectors.

Competing with it will be Stamfordham First School, a primary in Newcastle-upon-Tyne that has provided crucial support to families from a nearby army barracks, and particularly to children whose parents are on active service.

The schools that made the shortlist did more than hit data targets or impress inspectors. Our Lady of Pity Catholic Primary in Merseyside was nominated for the Primary School of the Year Award after taking the novel step of removing standard sanction and reward systems from its classrooms. Its teachers have not only succeeded with this approach but have also used it to help turn a nearby struggling school around.

Whether the award goes to those schools - or to St Anne’s Primary in Londonderry, Grange Park Primary in Sunderland or Heathland School in London - will be decided by the main judging panel next month. The judges this year include former schools minister Lord Knight, former London schools commissioner Sir Tim Brighouse and former NUT general secretary Fred Jarvis.

Faith schools dominate the secondary school category, with half of the six nominations going to Catholic schools: St Ninian’s High in Kirkintilloch, Glasgow; Our Lady and St Patrick’s High in Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire; and St Ambrose Barlow RC High in Manchester.

Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School in Blackburn was also nominated. It has spent the past three years transforming other schools in the town and has been given approval to open its own all-boys school.

The two non-faith schools on the shortlist are Wade Deacon High in Widnes, Cheshire, and Baxter College in Kidderminster, Worcestershire. Baxter missed out on a win at last year’s awards, but this year received four nominations, including for outstanding leadership team, outstanding businessfinancial team or initiative and teacher of the year.

The only other school to receive as many nominations was RSA Academy, a secondary that opened in Tipton, West Midlands, in 2008 and was designed around the principles of a curriculum developed by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

The focus of the TES Schools Awards remains on the achievement that schools make as a team. However, in response to popular demand, three new categories for individuals have been added this year: teacher of the year, ICT visionary in education and headteacher of the year.

While no London schools have been shortlisted for the Secondary School of the Year Award, the headteacher category features three nominations from the capital. Indeed, two of the heads - Cheryl Day and Jacqueline Bruton- Simmonds - have been credited for their tireless work transforming schools in the same borough, Hackney.

The ICT visionary category sees the inclusion of the first ever student to be nominated for a TES Schools Award: 16-year-old Lewis Phillips, a pupil at Inverkeithing High in Fife. The media network he established at the school, which encourages users to upload video reports, has proven popular with teachers as well as pupils.

“The quality of entries for the awards has grown more impressive every year, which is extraordinary when you consider the strength of our past winners,” says TES editor Gerard Kelly. “This year’s shortlist is a testament to the outstanding work done in schools throughout the UK, and there were many more remarkable teams and individuals who narrowly missed out on being nominated.”

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at the London Hilton, Park Lane, on Friday 6 July.

PRIMARY SCHOOL OF THE YEAR

Sponsored by Rising Stars

• Grange Park Primary, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
• Heathland School, South Harrow, London
• Iqra Community Primary, Bradford, West Yorkshire
• Our Lady of Pity Catholic Primary, Wirral, Merseyside
• St Anne’s Primary, Londonderry, County Londonderry
• Stamfordham First School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

• SECONDARY SCHOOL OF THE YEAR

  • Baxter College, Kidderminster, Worcestershire
  • Our Lady and St Patrick’s High, Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire
  • St Ambrose Barlow RC High, Manchester
  • St Ninian’s High, Kirkintilloch, Glasgow
  • Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High, Blackburn, Lancashire
  • Wade Deacon High, Widnes, Cheshire

  • SPECIAL SCHOOL OF THE YEAR

    • Fairfields School, Northampton
    • Maple Hayes Dyslexia School, Lichfield, Staffordshire
    • Oak Lodge School for Deaf Children, Balham, London
    • The New School at West Heath, Sevenoaks, Kent
    • The Springfields Academy, Calne, Wiltshire
    • Wren Spinney Community Special School, Kettering, Northamptonshire

    • OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP TEAM

    Sponsored by Future Leaders

    • Baxter College, Kidderminster, Worcestershire
    • Fairfields School, Northampton
    • James Brindley School, Birmingham
    • Park Primary, Boston, Lincolnshire
    • The White Horse Federation, Swindon, Wiltshire
    • Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Lon Las, Swansea, West Glamorgan

    • OUTSTANDING BUSINESSFINANCIAL TEAM OR INITIATIVE

      • Baxter College, Kidderminster, Worcestershire
      • Corpus Christi Catholic Sports College, Preston, Lancashire
      • RSA Academy, Tipton, West Midlands
      • St Joseph’s Specialist School and College, Cranleigh, Surrey
      • The Cotswold School Academy Trust, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

      • OUTSTANDING SPORTING INITIATIVE OR PARTNERSHIP

        • Portree Primary, Portree, Isle of Skye
        • Project TRY (Tackle Responsibility Yourself), Gravesend, Kent
        • Redwood Secondary, Rochdale, Greater Manchester
        • Schools at the Heart programme, Hackney, London
        • Stafford and Stone School Sport Partnership, Staffordshire
        • The Peacock Gym Academy, Canning Town, London

        • OUTSTANDING SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL OR COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

          • Edwalton School, Nottingham
          • Lealands High, Luton, Bedfordshire
          • Park Primary, Boston, Lincolnshire
          • RSA Academy, Tipton, West Midlands
          • The King Edward VI School, Morpeth, Northumberland
          • Thornhill School Business and Enterprise College, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear

          • OUTSTANDING LITERACY OR NUMERACY INITIATIVE

            • Burnt Mill School, Harlow, Essex
            • City Academy Norwich, Norfolk
            • Gosberton Primary, Spalding, Lincolnshire
            • Maple Hayes Dyslexia School, Lichfield, Staffordshire
            • St Luke’s High, Barrhead, East Renfrewshire
            • West Kirby Residential School, Wirral, Merseyside

            • HEALTHY EATING

              • Alwoodley Primary, Leeds
              • Penair School, Truro, Cornwall
              • Poole Grammar School, Dorset
              • RSA Academy, Tipton, West Midlands
              • St Joseph’s Specialist School and College, Cranleigh, Surrey
              • St Matthew Academy, Blackheath, London

              • OUTSTANDING ICT PARTNERSHIP

                • Cadoxton Primary, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan
                • Freemantles School, Woking, Surrey
                • Hackney Learning Trust schools, London
                • Penygarn Community Primary, Pontypool, Torfaen
                • Saltash.net Community School, Saltash, Cornwall
                • Walthamstow School for Girls, London

                • ICT VISIONARY IN EDUCATION

                  • Abdul Chohan, Essa Academy, Bolton, Lancashire
                  • Chris Leach, Winchester House School, Brackley, Northamptonshire
                  • Dan Roberts, Saltash.net Community School, Saltash, Cornwall
                  • Dawn Hallybone, Oakdale Junior School, South Woodford, London
                  • Lewis Phillips, Inverkeithing High, Fife
                  • Umran Naeem, RSA Academy, Tipton, West Midlands

                  • OUTSTANDING RESOURCE CONTRIBUTOR

                    • Andy Holland (anyholland), Skegness Grammar School, Lincolnshire
                    • Ben Cooper (Ben Cooper), St Paul’s School for Girls, Birmingham
                    • Kate Medhurst (kmed2020), an NQT from Newport who specialises in producing activities and worksheets for primary and early years
                    • Ruth Bentham (ruthbentham), who specialises in producing activities and worksheets for primary maths and English
                    • Starr Green (rosaespanola), Bruntcliffe School, Leeds
                    • Tanya Wood (CBGB), Washingwell Community Pre-school, Whickham, Newcastle- upon-Tyne

                    • To see their resources, visit www.tes.co.ukresources

                      TEACHER OF THE YEAR

                      • Amer Sheikh, Thornhill School Business and Enterprise College, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
                      • Elly Barnes, Stoke Newington School and Sixth Form, London
                      • Faisal Mustafa, Cornwallis Academy, Maidstone, Kent
                      • Lauren Dalgarno, Conyers School, Yarm, Stockton-on-Tees
                      • Michelle Rathor, Our Lady’s RC High, Higher Blackley, Manchester
                      • Rob Birch, Baxter College, Kidderminster, Worcestershire

                      • HEADTEACHER OF THE YEAR

                      Sponsored by Communications Management

                      • Bushra Nasir, Plashet School, East Ham, London
                      • Charles Rooney, Our Lady and St Patrick’s High, Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire
                      • Cheryl Day, Clapton Girls’ Academy, Hackney, London
                      • David Gould, St Albans Academy, Highgate, Birmingham
                      • Jacqueline Bruton-Simmonds, Jubilee Primary, Hackney, London
                      • Mark Wilson, Robin Hood Primary, Wakefield, West Yorkshire

                      • LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

                        OVERALL OUTSTANDING SCHOOL OF THE YEAR

                  The shortlists for these awards are kept secret. The winners will be revealed on the day.