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The Royal Air Force Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School Robert Hitch, Broomfield School, Southgate (London and South East) Daniel Browning, Tendring Technology College, Frinton-on-Sea (East) Jonathan Shields, Plymouth College, Plymouth (South West) Garfield Thomas, Cardinal Newman Catholic Comprehensive School, Pontypridd (Wales)


Go East: SecEd editor Pete Henshaw presented awards at the East of England final and is pictured with Dan Browning (left), Teacher of the Year, and Becky Newman, Teaching Assistant of the Year. Jim Fuller won Secondary Head of the Year


Awards celebrate heroes of teaching


by Chris Parr


An Essex school was celebrating last week after taking home three prizes at the East Region finals of the 2010 Teaching Awards. Tendring Technology College,


in Clacton-on-Sea, swept the boards after picking up the top prizes in the secondary Teacher of the Year and Teaching Assistant of the Year cat- egories, while the school’s humani- ties department also received a dis- tinction in the battle to be named Outstanding Team of the Year. Dan Browning, who scooped


the secondary teacher award, has been teaching history at the school for 10 years – including a sabbatical year in the Far East. He told SecEd: “I love know-


ing that I can help the children to achieve what they want to achieve, to inspire them to have a passion for history. I am proud of the school. I am a good teacher because I work with other good teachers. If they did not inspire me I would not be able to inspire the children.” Becky Newman joined Dan on


the Tendring winners’ podium after beating off the competition in the Teaching Assistant of the Year cat- egory. Despite only getting a D in her own GCSE first time around,


Becky, who has been at the school for five years, now specialises in maths – and has been known to sing to her students in order to explain mathematical concepts. “I love everything about my


job, I get a bit of freedom to use my creativity for the displays and when I sing to the children. I sing a circle song about the area of circles and I draw pictures in their books when they have done well. It’s the most fun I have had,” she told us. Becky recently re-sat her maths


GCSE with the students at her school, getting an A* – an experi- ence she now uses to motivate the children. Caroline Haynes, headteacher


at the school, said she was proud of both her winning members of staff. She told us: “Becky has such a


powerful affect on young people who sometimes find maths really difficult. She encourages them. She empathises with where the students are coming from. Re-taking her GCSE maths with the students is unique really, it was a massive thing for her to do.” On Dan, she added: “He’s tena-


cious. He is an inspiration to all the children.” Other winners in the East of


England region included Jim Fuller, headteacher at Fitzwimarc School, also in Essex. He fought off com-


petition from some exceptional school leaders to be named the East region’s Secondary Headteacher of the Year. Jim joined the school in March


1999, and since then it has gone from good to outstanding. Exam results have also risen constantly, and the school now achieves 82 per cent A* to C, and 67 per cent including English and maths. They are on course to break the 70 per cent barrier in the latter category this year. The school has also been suc-


cessful in its attempts to close the gender gap in achievement, having moved this from a 23 per cent to a three per cent difference between girls’ and boys’ achievement. Jim paid tribute to his staff after


winning his award, saying that despite there being 200-plus staff in his school, they work as one team. He added: “The staff are what’s really important to me – that we are one staff, together. “I want to thank my family and


friends too. If we are not careful we can lose our sanity. They have been supportive through all the highs and the lows and I am very appreciative of that support.” Elsewhere last week, the


cream of London and South East England’s teaching professionals descended on the British Museum


for their regional finals. Among the winners was Arwel Jones, head at Brentside High School in west London, who took home the Secondary Headteacher of the Year award. When Arwel arrived at the


school seven years ago, less than a third of students were achieving five or more A* to C grades at GCSE. That has since risen to more than 70 per cent. The school is now regarded as


one of the highest performing in the country, and the first choice locally for parents to send their children. Headteachers are not generally


compared with Chinese leaders, but nominating governor Malcolm Darvill described the difference that Arwel had made at Brentside as akin to “Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward”. Arwel said: “It is very, very


surprising to win. I didn’t expect it at all. I found out that Malcolm had nominated me in April, and that was reward enough.” Ceremonies have also taken


place in Wales and the South West since SecEd last covered the Teaching Awards. For a full list of winners, see right. All regional winners now go


on to compete in the UK finals in October. For details, visit www. teachingawards.com


Emma surprises London ceremony


St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road Herne Hill, London SE24 0PB www.markallengroup.com


Finalists at the London leg of the Teaching Awards regional tour were treated to an address by one of the UK’s most respected and decorated actresses – Emma Thompson. The Oscar-winning star


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ISSN 1479-7704


became president of the Teaching Awards last year, and chose this year’s London finals to make her inaugural address. Speaking to a packed audi-


torium at the British Museum, where she presented the Team of the Year Award, Ms Thompson gave what she called her “special thank you to teachers”. She said: “I’m here because I


think the Teaching Awards give us the opportunity to tell the story of teaching more often and more


clearly. It is important that it is seen to be one of the most important and rewarding professions.” The star went on to detail her


own experiences of teaching, describing when she asked to deliv- er a lesson at her daughters’ primary school. “I went to the school and said ‘can I come and have a go?’ – it will be okay, I thought, it’s just 40 nine-year-olds, surely I can teach them something! Within five- minutes of the lesson starting I was screaming ‘you can’t all be Lady Macbeth!’ – I was hopeless.” Ms Thompson also has experi-


ence of school leadership, taking on the role of a headmistress in the 2009 film An Education. “I based her on a cross between Margaret Thatcher and Hitler,” she said.


Star backing: Emma Thompson congratulates London and the South East’s winning Secondary Headteacher of the Year, Arwell Jones from Brentside High School in Ealing


The National College Award for Headteacher of the Year in a Secondary School Arwel Jones, Brentside High School, Ealing (London and South East) Jim Fuller, The Fitzwimarc School, Rayleigh (East) Carol Hannaford, Stoke Damerel Community College, Plymouth (South West) Stephen Marshall, St Julian’s School, Newport (Wales)


The Becta Award for Next Generation Learning Anne Franklin, The Lodge Park Technology College, Corby (East) Dilwyn Owen, Ysgol Gyfun Bro Morgannwg, Barry (Wales) The Department for Education Award for Enterprise Jon Elkon, Featherstone High School, Southall (London and South East)


The Award for Outstanding School Team of the Year Ifield School, Gravesend (London and South East) Portfield Special School, Haverfordwest (Wales)


The Department for Education Award for Sustainable Schools The Thomas Hardye School, Dorchester (South West)


The Department for Education Award for Governor of the Year Shahid Khan, Villiers High School, Ealing (London and South East) Philip Capper, Ysgol Bryn Elian, Colwyn Bay (Wales)


The TDA Award for Teaching Assistant of the Year Alison Leibrick, Henry Tyndale School, Farnborough (London and South East) Becky Newman, Tendring Technology College, Frinton-on-Sea (East) Garry Hammond, Stoke Damerel Community College, Plymouth (South West)


The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Award for Outstanding New Teacher of the Year Lee Bazen, Sandringham School, St Albans (East) Pete Scutt, Isambard Community School, Swindon (South West) Kate Campion-Smith, Cator Park School, Beckenham (London and South East)


The Welsh Assembly Government Award for the Promotion of the Welsh Language in a School (Wales only)


Gwenan Jones, Canolfan Iaith Maesincla, Caernarfon


2


SecEd • July 1 2010


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