Education’s most inspirational take a bow - and a prize

Annual TES Schools Awards honour best of the profession

11th July 2014, 1:00am

The outstanding work of schools up and down the country was celebrated last week at the glittering TES Schools Awards. The awards, now in their sixth year, honour the achievements and dedication of teachers and schools in serving communities and helping pupils to gain academic and personal success.

This year’s ceremony, hosted by Outnumbered star Hugh Dennis in central London, included awards for subjects, resources, ed tech, enterprise, and sport and healthy eating.

Bohunt School in Liphook, Hampshire, was named overall school of the year. The judges praised not only its commitment to achievement and innovation but also its work with other schools. Bohunt was also named secondary school of the year.

Neil Strowger, headteacher of Bohunt, said: “Winning the Overall School of the Year Award means a huge amount to us. The award’s recognition of the breadth of our educational offer is something we really value. I am incredibly proud of the efforts, innovation and commitment of our students and staff; they richly deserve this public recognition. The award has created a fantastic buzz throughout our community.”

The Primary School of the Year Award went to St Mary’s Church of England Primary in Manchester. The judges were full of admiration for the school - based in the heart of the deprived area of Moss Side - and its journey from the bottom of regional league tables to become one of the leading primaries in the city.

Headteacher Jenny McGarry said that the celebrations continued this week, with the trophy passed around in a whole-school assembly. “We made it clear to the pupils that the award was all about them,” she said. “The award is not just about St Mary’s - it will change how people feel about Moss Side. There are lots of brilliant things going on here. We are showing how brilliant central Manchester is and what a great place it is to grow up in.”

The special needs school of the year was Longdon Hall School in Staffordshire. Just three years after opening, it has received widespread praise for engaging hard-to-reach pupils, including children with severe autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

A special award for services to education was made to Ann Maguire, who was killed in front of her pupils at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds earlier this year. The award was presented to Ms Maguire’s daughter Emma-Jane.

Mike Pye, a maths teacher whose 75 resources have been downloaded from the TES Connect website more than 250,000 times, was crowned resource contributor of the year. The award has been renamed in memory of Bev Evans, a prolific contributor to TES Connect who died earlier this year. Bev created more than 1,000 resources, which have been downloaded almost 5.2 million times around the world.

The winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award was Howard Wood, who, in his 37 years at Oathall Community College in West Sussex, developed an on-site farm into a centre of agricultural excellence. “What he has achieved with Oathall’s school farm is a wonderfully tangible monument to a fantastic career,” the judges said.

Ann Mroz, editor of TES, said: “We are delighted to celebrate the fantastic work done by teachers up and down the country. We received an incredibly high standard of entries and we congratulate all who made the shortlists and, of course, our eventual winners. Education has a lot to shout about and we need occasions like these to find our voice.”