The Tes Schools Awards have returned in style tonight as amazing achievements across the sector were celebrated.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the awards ceremony was held in person and, for the first time ever, the event simultaneously celebrated the work of teachers and schools across the UK’s state school and independent sectors.

This year, there are 20 award categories, including two special awards honouring the classroom resource of the year and a lifetime achievement award.

A panel of expert judges - including school leaders, inspectors and education researchers - have helped select our winners, who were announced tonight at a gala ceremony at London’s Grosvenor Park Hotel.

Tes editor and chair of judges Jon Severs said: “The Tes Schools Awards are the Oscars of education, recognising and celebrating everything that’s great about our schools and school staff.

“We had so many entries from teachers and schools across the country; choosing the winners was no easy task. Congratulations to the winning schools and thank you to all school staff who do such vital work every day.” 

Here’s the list of tonight’s winners. To learn more about each of them and why they stood out to the judges, keep reading.

Tes Schools Awards 2022: the winners

• Lifetime Achievement Award: Hilary Shergold, Millfield School
• Best Use of Technology: The Glasgow Academy
• Teaching Assistant of the Year: Jack Turner, Everton Free School
• SEND Provision in a Mainstream Setting of the Year: Lime Tree Primary Academy
• Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Setting of the Year: Woolenwick Infant and Nursery School
• Primary School of the Year: Briar Hill Primary School
• Secondary School of the Year: Hazelwood Integrated College
• Specialist provision of the year: Everton Free School
• Independent Prep School of the Year: Greenfield School, Surrey
• Independent Senior School of the Year: St Dunstan’s College
• Boarding School of the Year: Gordon’s School
• Community Engagement Initiative of the Year: The Gosport and Fareham Multi-Academy Trust
• School Business Leader of the Year: Wendy Mason, The Laurus Trust
• Headteacher of the Year: Arthur Barzey, Heron Hall Academy
• Subject Lead of the Year (Primary): Gill Fitzpatrick, Beech Hill Community Primary School
• Subject Lead of the Year (Secondary): Jon Dean, Truro High School for Girls
• Subject Lead of the Year (Specialist Provision): Helen Devereux Murray, Eastbury Community School
• Pupil Mental Health Initiative of the Year: Maricourt Catholic High School, Liverpool
• School of the Year for Staff Wellbeing: Kirton Primary School
• Resource of the Year: Sonríe in Spanish

The winners in detail

Lifetime Achievement Award: Hilary Shergold, Millfield School

From teaching children by day to offering classes and theatre trips for prisoners by night, Hilary Shergold has touched the lives of tens of thousands of people through education.

She has been a teacher for 48 years, with 47 of those in the state sector. And now, at age 70, she is in her first year in independent education at Millfield.

She started as an English teacher at age 23 at Rednock School in Dursley, before moving to Ansford School in Castle Cary and taking her place at The Blue School in Wells for 43 years.

Her commitment to going above and beyond the role was clear from the outset when she set up a school bookshop to create a demand for reading. Later, spotting the need for vocational courses, she created a business department, enrolling at university a day a week in order to retrain.

By the 1980s, she was teaching English, business and computing, as well as offering A-level English to prisoners at Leyhill Prison. 

Sam Twiselton, judge and director of Sheffield Institute of Education, said: “There is such a mix of different ways she’s contributed over a long career, with a massive commitment to different curriculum areas and the school community, as well as the community beyond the school, in a way that is really heartwarming.”

Best Use of Technology: The Glasgow Academy

In the spring of 2020, a group of teachers at The Glasgow Academy began working on a project to improve online provision and address inequities in access to online learning at a time of national crisis.

The team worked with academics, cognitive psychologists, tech specialists, students, parents and teachers to understand what was needed to “digitally capture the human connection great teachers achieve in their classrooms”.

The target was to develop a media format and sharing platform that would allow access to returnable and shareable learning content. The team focused on the more challenging concepts from examination subjects young people were learning at home: the topics they needed teachers to unpack for them.

The result, thinkfour, was given a soft launch in Scotland in April 2021 and 10 months later they are supporting thousands of young people in their learning. They have been asked by Education Scotland to act as a core service provider on their national digital infrastructure and have been nominated for international awards.

Hilary Goldsmith, judge, school business leader and the founder and CEO of SBLConnect, described the project as “head and shoulders above the rest in terms of impact”.

Teaching Assistant of the Year: Jack Turner, Everton Free School

Everton Free School is an extension of the charitable arm of Everton Football Club, based in one of the most deprived areas of the UK.

The alternative provision serves young people aged 13 to 16 who are either at risk of exclusion or have been permanently excluded, offering them the opportunity to improve their life chances.

Teaching assistant and musician Jack Turner has worked at the school for more than seven years, bringing what his employers describe as “Jack magic” to the young people there through his musical skill and all-around creativity.

The school say he has repeatedly been able to connect with some of the most disengaged students to help them develop their self-esteem and confidence.

One example is a young person who had 0 per cent attendance and no interest in education; Mr Turner was able to design a bespoke curriculum to help him develop his previously unexplored DJ skills while gaining his GCSEs.

The young person is now performing publicly while continuing his further education studies, and his mother was so impressed with the school, and Mr Turner in particular, that she has become a governor.

Judge and associate professor at UCL Institute of Education Rob Webster described Mr Turner as “nauseatingly talented”, highlighting his use of music and creativity in engaging children who may find it hard to engage, in addition to a level of musical skill that has seen him perform at Glastonbury.

SEND Provision in a Mainstream Setting of the Year: Lime Tree Primary Academy

With well above the average number of children with special educational needs or disabilities for a mainstream school, Lime Tree Primary works closely with outside agencies and the local SEND and secondary schools, and supports families on the Trafford SEND Parent Forum.

The school has a bespoke wellbeing team with a pastoral safeguarding lead, two SEND assistants, two SEND lead teachers and a Sendco, who all make regular calls and hold meetings to support families with “whatever is needed”.

There is a huge focus on SEND in class delivery, with teaching assistant support and training, and bespoke interventions are also offered, from academic and sensory to mental health, communication and language emotion (including a therapeutic forest and therapy dog).

They also support families with resources on topics including health and wellbeing, and run behaviour sessions, sleep clinics, SEND clinics and more. They’ve also creatively used different areas to provide spaces for the children, including an office that became a sensory room, in addition to wellbeing rooms and Zen rooms around the school.

Margaret Mulholland, judge and special educational needs and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The unique element of Limetree was not just the very detailed case studies of impact over time but, more than anything, the outward-facing role they perform in terms of building partnerships locally to reach both the child and the family and wrap around them, with this notion that it’s not just the child that has got a place at the school, but the family.”

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Setting of the Year: Woolenwick Infant and Nursery School

In a deprived area of Stevenage, Woolenwick School has a significant number of children entering the setting with poor language skills, including poor listening skills, limited vocabulary and an inability to articulate their thoughts.

By introducing quality-first teaching, creative approaches to curriculum delivery and innovative targeted provision strategies, the school has raised the attainment, progress and outcomes for the most vulnerable children, and has been rated as “outstanding” by Ofsted.

Supported by educationalists and artists in residence, projects are led by the questions and curiosities of children, where their thoughts are taken seriously and they are encouraged to build on their discoveries and enquiries by exploring alongside skilled educators. Children are recognised as being full of potential and capable of constructing their own learning.

Eunice Lumsden, judge and associate professor and subject lead for Childhood, Youth and Families at The University of Northampton, said there was “clear evidence of a setting that is focused on the holistic development of children, with real community engagement and collaborative working”.  

“In an area of huge deprivation, their outcomes are above local and national averages, which says an awful lot about the experience those children are having in the EYFS in that setting and a testament to their pedagogical approaches.”

Primary School of the Year: Briar Hill Primary School

Briar Hill prides itself on going above and beyond for its children and the wider community and is consistently recognised by external agencies for this, recently achieving the Inclusion Quality Mark Flagship status for its commitment to inclusion and wellness.

The school, a focal point for a multicultural community, is high-performing, with results that are consistently above the national average and improving every year. It is proud to be rated as the best school in Northampton and the second-best school in Northamptonshire by the Good Schools Guide but has said that, while results are important, making sure pupils are happy at school is equally key.

Judge and chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching Dame Alison Peacock said: “I loved the fact that the application talked about it being a warm, welcoming and loving school…They seem to be doing a lot that’s really good.”

Secondary School of the Year: Hazelwood Integrated College

Hazelwood is a high-performing, co-educational, all-ability integrated school with students from different cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds in an area of multiple deprivation in Belfast, straddling the North Belfast Peace Line.

In 2020, it was the most oversubscribed school in the area, even ahead of grammar schools, and it has been in the median to upper quartile for five GCSEs including English and maths for the past five years.

The school places a focus on community engagement and for two years has provided free school meals for all 1,066 students during the month of December to help families experiencing financial hardship due to cost of living increases. It also offers a free breakfast club for all students, all year.

There is also a huge emphasis on student voice and the student leadership team has led initiatives to improve student wellbeing throughout the school, including the installation of book vending machines.

Christine Gilbert, judge and former secondary school headteacher and chief inspector at Ofsted (2006-2011), said: “It’s so unusual, with 58 per cent of students on free school meals and yet it’s more popular than local grammar schools, which says something about parents’ regard for the school.

“It brings together social workers and youth workers to work together with teachers and learning mentors; they work and plan together and that seems to be pushing the achievement up. It’s astonishing what they’re doing.”

Specialist provision of the year: Everton Free School

Everton Free School is part of Everton Football Club and the school says every staff member of the alternative provision embraces a “nothing but the best” attitude.

Its innovative curriculum aims to allow each student to nurture their talents, supported by a team of staff who are adaptable, flexible and embrace challenges. 

Recent successes include well above expected progress in all core subjects for all year groups compared with the rest of Liverpool and England and a GCSE pass rate of 88 per cent (compared with 57.7 per cent for other AP providers in England and compared with 34.4 per cent within Liverpool). 

The school is also leading on creativity research as part of the North West collaborative network, and has been recognised for wider curriculum initiatives - such as the Prince’s Trust Community Enterprise - and received a National Rail Award in 2021 for student community projects.

Vijita Patel, judge and principal of Swiss Cottage School, said: “There’s a very, very strong philosophy that is distinctive about this school; they’ve taken that and made it a golden thread across the provision.

“They’re very focused on pupils’ sense of self, their identity and their aspirations, and they do this with a curriculum model that’s very explicit about making sure pupils have a lesson each week that is in the community, being part of the community.”

Independent Prep School of the Year: Greenfield School, Surrey

After many successful years as a one-form-entry school on a confined urban site, Greenfield moved to a bigger home in September 2019, enabling a move to two-form-entry. The new site has helped further the school’s mission to be truly inclusive; prioritising wide corridors, a lift and “low-arousal working environments to meet the needs of diverse learners”.

The school aims to promote equality, diversity and the influence of the individual by empowering its pupils. After petitioning the headmistress, students no longer have gender-specific uniforms and have since turned their attention to equality in sport.

Greenfield is also focused on teaching real-world skills and recently redesigned its music and arts curriculum in order to better reflect creative arts as a realistic career prospect. Scriptwriting, filmmaking, choreography, public speaking, stage production, make-up and costume design now sit alongside an increased provision within the music curriculum.

Judge and head of St Paul’s Cathedral School Simon Larter-Evans said: “The school has increased its roll and made a particular feature of helping parents choose the future school with the interests of the child, rather than the interests of prestige and that’s a good message for everyone in the independent sector. It’s bucking the trend of monocultural independent schools in the Surrey area and has a strong community focus.”

Independent Senior School of the Year: St Dunstan’s College

St Dunstan’s College in London has won this award for being an ambitious, forward-thinking community that places values first.

The school’s Forder programme sees a weekly schedule of 150 activities embedded into the timetable and structured around the values of courage, creativity, confidence, compassion and curiosity.

The Usherwood programme, underpinned by the Centre of Wellbeing, is designed to ensure a proactive approach to pupil ownership of mental and physical wellbeing through imaginative programmes in nutrition, sexual health and mindfulness.

The Hecker curriculum offers 17 subjects running throughout the lower school and allowing for curiosity of mind to be developed in its fullest. The Stuart additional curriculum, a taught programme designed by the school, helps young people to acquire vital life skills, the power of rhetoric and critical thinking, equipping children with the confidence to embrace challenges with the toolkit necessary to thrive.

Judge David James has worked in independent schools for over 20 years and is an experienced inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate. He said: “There’s a very clear and coherent vision of what they want to do, both with the curriculum and the local community.

“The head is asking interesting questions of the sector, including areas like privilege and responsibility, which go beyond the usual platitudes. It’s a really interesting school in a tough market, trying to not just survive but actually make something different for the children and families they’re working with.”

Boarding School of the Year: Gordon’s School

Built as the national memorial to General Gordon, Gordon’s opened in 1885 as a home for “necessitous boys”.

Today, it is a senior co-educational residential and day state boarding school, rated “outstanding” by Ofsted in its last four inspections. Academically, all sixth-form students pass three or more A levels. The school’s ethos is that a good education is not just about academic success but thorough preparation for life.

An extended school day allows all students to take part in co-curricular activities such as sports or a hobby every day, and also provides the opportunity to take part in the Combined Cadet Force and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme.

The school, near Woking in Surrey, says that a student-centred approach allows student wellbeing to be at the heart of the school’s practice, helps inform the dorm allocations in boarding houses, is used with students on behaviour plans and to monitor personal progress, inform rich discussions between staff and students and inform planning.

Durrell Barnes, judge and head of governance and compliance at RSAcademics, said: “It’s a state boarding school and they explained well how boarding impacts on the quality of the whole school, and its existence making the school a different place for all of the students, not just the boarders.”

Community Engagement Initiative of the Year: The Gosport and Fareham Multi-Academy Trust

In 2020, the Gosport and Fareham Trust (GFM) responded proactively to the challenges of the pandemic, placing the wellbeing of children and families first. The recovery offers ranged from tackling the logistics of remote learning to delivering comprehensive full-time holiday activities, food parcels and targeted interventions.

Of the £295,120 the GFM received from the government for the Covid premium, nearly 100 per cent of the funding was spent on focused activities in direct response to the challenges brought about by the pandemic.

This included small group and remote tutoring across all schools in the trust; upskilling the workforce to respond to remote learning; literacy and oracy interventions and assessment; access to specialist and therapeutic services for individuals and families; mental health support, crisis support and assessment of need; and holiday provisions and evening tutoring, with more than 300 pupils benefitting from these bespoke interventions.

Judge Sir Tim Brighouse taught in grammar and secondary modern schools before entering educational administration. He said: “They demonstrated all sorts of data showing that they were bothering to see not only what they did, but whether it had an impact.”

School Business Leader of the Year: Wendy Mason, The Laurus Trust

The Laurus Trust is a multi-academy trust in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, which currently consists of three primary schools, five secondary schools and four sixth-form colleges. At the core of the trust is a central services team, led by chief financial officer Wendy Mason.

Ms Mason has built an efficient and high-performing central services team made up of finance, HR, IT, data management, facilities and marketing.

She is committed to ensuring that the trust schools are providing value for money across all service areas. She has also been integral to the development of new school buildings across the trust, as well as building partnerships with the likes of Loughborough University, which provide students with elite-level sporting experiences and visits to their university campuses.

Hilary Goldsmith, judge and school business leader at a secondary school in Kent, said: “There was evidence of all the different ways she’s made the whole trust better, joining up of those services across the schools. It was about the person rather than the role, and that sense of trust and that this one inspirational individual is holding so much together.”

Headteacher of the Year: Arthur Barzey, Heron Hall Academy

Arthur Barzey exchanged a stethoscope and a highly promising career in medicine to become the leader of a new school, Heron Hall Academy, in the heart of the Ponders End community in London.

The secondary school has 1,200 students (94 per cent from minority-ethnic backgrounds), with 75 different nationalities represented among the staff, students and governors. 

Born and raised in Sierra Leone, Mr Barzey knows about the importance of education. He has a focus on developing character and self-belief, as well as embedding pastoral care into the DNA of the school.

He has developed a careers programme in partnership with the Enfield Caribbean Association, who organise an annual careers fair with BAME role models, from the Royal Air Force to neurosurgeons. External speakers have included a High Court judge and one of the world’s top speechwriters.

Judge Julie Robinson said: “Arthur comes across as outstandingly inspiring. He focuses on pride and aspiration in a disadvantaged multicultural community and is all about aspiration and inclusion. He has a huge personal impact and stands out as a great leader.”

Subject Lead of the Year (Primary): Gill Fitzpatrick, Beech Hill Community Primary School

As a leader and practitioner of design technology, Gill Fitzpatrick has worked tirelessly over the past few years to raise the profile of the subject within the school and beyond.

As a result, children at the school in Wigan have begun to see themselves as scientists and engineers. Staff report a level of engagement in the subject.

The engineering aspect of the D&T curriculum did not stop during lockdown: projects run online were met with 100 per cent engagement.

Children’s work has been shared with other schools and The Royal Engineering Society as well as the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Working with Dr Lynne Bianchi from the University of Manchester, she has now been invited to act as regional champion for engineering and design technology, developing a regional hub for schools across Wigan to offer the local area the opportunities we have experienced.

Judge Amanda Wilson said: “She’s really done a good job of spreading her passion throughout the school and getting children from across the board to be involved, and thinking about how children with SEND can be involved.”

Subject Lead of the Year (Secondary): Jon Dean, Truro High School for Girls

Jon Dean has transformed a traditional science department into a highly successful, cutting-edge Stem faculty with Stem teaching embedded for all, from 4 to 18 years old.

He has also started a Greenpower engineering team that now has the largest fleet of Greenpower cars of any school in the UK and competes at race tracks all around the UK. The team recently won a national award for a video in which the girls spoke of how their passion for engineering has enriched their lives.

Last year, a third of sixth-form students were accepted to medicine or medical-related courses having followed Mr Dean’s aspiring medics programme. 

He is also keen to develop space science and led the school in forming a partnership with the Roseland Observatory.

The school is now home to an observatory and houses the only solar telescope on the UK mainland. It has a weekly astronomy club with students frequently choosing to take a GCSE in astronomy a year early “just for fun”.

Judge David James said he was impressed by “the sheer range and scope of his achievements, all coming from a passion for science”.

Subject Lead of the Year (Specialist Provision): Helen Devereux Murray, Eastbury Community School

Holding together a team during Covid while some were at home and some at school was demanding, but Helen Devereux Murray says that the team has come out stronger.

She has worked tirelessly doing everything she can to promote the needs and rights of students whether at class, school or national level. Her work in her school in Barking demonstrates her outstanding teaching and the accelerated progress her students make, sometimes from well behind their peers.

She says she is immensely proud of how the ARP (Assisted Resource Provision for deaf children) family pulled together throughout the pandemic and says she has been privileged to work within such a dynamic and resilient team who encourage her to always strive to be the best and break down barriers.

Judge Simon Knight said: “She stood out not just for the impact on learning, but the richness of experience that she’s been able to provide.

“Daily access to and participation in the creative arts in the pandemic, while maintaining relationships and supporting the return to school for those with additional communication needs, is impressive.”

Pupil Mental Health Initiative of the Year: Maricourt Catholic High School, Liverpool

During pandemic recovery, Maricourt focused on resilience training, conducting a whole-school survey to identify the key cohorts of students, before providing training to 400 young people across all year groups.

The school also teamed up with Everton in the Community to introduce a 20-hour self-esteem and personal development programme for 60 Year 8 and 9 students, who were most impacted by the pandemic and were finding it harder to bounce back.

They realised that the work needed to be continued, as relationships and levels of respect had changed and students had lost out on the ability to connect and had increased freedoms online. This led to a whole-school Call it Out programme and the recruitment of wellbeing champions who have recently launched their own podcast, taken part in a national respect campaign and teamed up with a coaching company to extend the wellbeing resources.

Judge Dr Tara Porter said: “This was a really strong submission, with wellbeing front and centre at the school, with wellbeing interventions starting in Year 7 and continuing all through school life.”

School of the Year for Staff Wellbeing: Kirton Primary School

Last year, Kirton Primary School, in Lincolnshire, stepped up its commitment to the mental wellbeing of staff, concentrating on proactive, sustainable measures.

There are efforts to reduce workload and stress by cutting down on unnecessary meetings and an additional week of holiday is offered in the October half-term to enable staff to access cheaper travel.

The leadership team has committed to the Department for Education Staff Wellbeing Charter and is providing a wellbeing programme via two trained champions, who are also working on a new mental health policy. A confidential audit of morale and improvement suggestions are under way, and staff wellbeing is now a regular item on the governors’ agenda. 

Judge Dame Joan McVittie said: “The school has been so innovative, they just seem to have covered every single base and the impact can be seen in low absence rates.”

Resource of the Year: Sonríe in Spanish

Sonríe in Spanish began sharing their modern foreign language (MFL) resources on Tes in 2018 and has since supported thousands of teachers worldwide.

Since being uploaded towards the end of 2020, Sonríe in Spanish’s resource “Operación Rescate Reyes Magos. Clase Navidad. Spanish Christmas game. Full lesson with answers” has supported hundreds of teachers worldwide and was particularly successful within its first three months of upload.

The Christmas-themed Spanish resource, which has received lots of positive feedback, asks pupils to “complete a series of six tasks based on key aspects of the Spanish Christmas holidays in order to work out the city where the kings are located to be able to rescue them.”