Victoria Withall, of The Elizabethan Academy in Retford, has won a Silver Teaching Award in the category, The Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School, supported by SSAT, in the 2018 Pearson Teaching Awards. Selected from thousands of nominations, Victoria is one of just 65 winners who was celebrated on 22nd June — ‘Thank A Teacher Day’. The national Teaching Awards marked its 20th year of celebrating excellence in education.
The Pearson Teaching Awards are an annual celebration of exceptional teachers, founded in 1998 by Lord Puttnam, to recognise the life-changing impact an inspirational teacher can have on the lives of the young people they teach.
Victoria will now join fellow Silver Award winners, along with three Scottish Education Award winners and three winners of the Professional Teaching Awards Cymru, at the 20th UK Ceremony of the Pearson Teaching Awards, a glittering ceremony held in central London on 21st October. There they will find out which of them has won one of just 12 Gold Plato Awards, the UK’s “Oscars for Teachers”.
The October ceremony, titled “Britain’s Classroom Heroes”, will be filmed and broadcast by the BBC as a showcase of excellence in education. Previous award presenters have included former prime ministers David Cameron and Tony Blair, acting legends Jenny Agutter, Alison Steadman and Sheila Hancock and sports and TV personalities including Shirley Ballas, Helen Glover, Brendan Cole and Nadiya Hussain.
The Teaching Awards is encouraging members of the public to say “thank you” to a teacher who has made a difference in their lives. Simply go to www.teachingawards.com/card, fill in a form online including a personal message and the teacher will receive a Thank You card in the post for free.
Michael Morpurgo, celebrated author and former Children’s Laureate, and President of the Teaching Awards Trust, said: “The best we can do is to pass on to children all that we know and love and mean every word. I think above all else, a teacher should be a friend, and that’s not an easy thing to do when there are 35 children out there. With these awards we are shining a light on these inspirational individuals whose efforts and commitment so often go un-celebrated.”