Home Local News St Helens schools shortlisted for prestigious education awards

St Helens schools shortlisted for prestigious education awards

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Schools in St Helens are celebrating after being named on the shortlist for the Educate Awards 2017.

The awards, in partnership with Copyrite Systems and Ricoh, is now in its sixth year and is the biggest celebration of education in the North West.

Held at Liverpool Cathedral, it is the one night of the year where the excellence of schools in the Liverpool City Region, Cheshire and Lancashire is celebrated and rewarded in a unique fashion, bringing together inspiring leaders and support staff to showcase the brilliance within the region’s education sector.

Hundreds of entries were sent in across the 21 award categories, breaking previous records. Categories include the WOW Recognition Award, Outstanding Sport and Teacher of the Year.

Rainford High, The District CE Primary School, Parish CE Primary School and Hope Academy have all been shortlisted for this year’s awards.

Rainford High has been shortlisted for the Outstanding Sport in Secondary School Award for a fifth consecutive year. Rainford has taken part in over 200 fixtures during 2017 and has achieved significant team success in football, athletics, basketball, rugby and netball. The school also has a number of highly successful individuals including Jacob Kelly, who has just made the GB tumbling team.

The school’s Modern Foreign Language (MFL) department is also up for the WOW Recognition Award. Through a series of innovative activities and events, the MFL department has made languages come alive both inside and outside lesson time. The department engages parents and students through events such as Spelling Bees, Easter Egg competitions and even by creating motivational CDs for GCSE students!

The District CE Primary School in Newton Le Willows is shortlisted for the Innovative and Creative Literacy Award which the school won back in 2015. Its pioneering ‘Reading is STEMsational’ project set out to develop boys’ reading with a focus on STEM subjects. The impact of the project has been vast – 77% of Key Stage 2 boys reported that STEM year has encouraged them to read more.

The Newton Le Willows school has also been shortlisted for the STEM Project of the Year Award. Not only did the project focus on reading, but the school filled the year with a plethora of ideas to develop engagement and interest in STEM careers. Activities included Dinosaur Week, British Science Week and links with Farm Urban.

Parish CE Primary School is in the running for the Career Aspiration Award. The introduction of its ‘Parish Careers and University Course’ encourages children to consider a range of careers or university as a future pathway. Hailed as a “fantastic project” by secretary of state, Justine Greening, pupils learn social skills, general knowledge modules and career based courses such as engineering.

Before the programme, only 22% of students believed themselves capable of achieving a job which would be fulfilling, interesting and well-paid, but two years later 95% of the same students had now developed the confidence and self-belief that they could gain jobs such as a teacher, doctor, nurse or builder.

Hope Academy’s Chaplain Michelle Goodwin has been shortlisted for the Support Star of the Year Award.

Described as an “indefatigable champion” for students and “an enormous creative force”, Michelle impacts every aspect of school life at Hope Academy. From charity work, community events, hiking club to her chaplaincy group, Michelle is a strong and visible presence who always encourages students to engage with the world around them.

Commenting on the shortlist, Kim O’Brien, founder of the Educate Awards, says: “We are delighted to finally reveal the shortlisted schools ahead of the awards ceremony in November. This year’s shortlist includes schools and colleges of all sizes, from all across the region. So many congratulations to all those shortlisted, it was a very tough job for our judging panel!

“It is so important to celebrate and shine a spotlight on the region’s inspirational teachers, support staff and school communities, who do such a fantastic job day in, day out.

“Well done and good luck to all the shortlisted schools in St Helens.”

Tom Doyle, managing director of Copyrite Systems, says: “Once again the Educate Awards shortlist highlights the real passion, energy and determination of North West schools and their staff. As the main sponsor, I would like to congratulate each and every school and wish them the best of luck.

“So many different sides of school life are celebrated at the Educate Awards, so it is our pleasure to continue our support of the awards and help celebrate the region’s unsung classroom heroes.”

The winners will be announced at the annual awards ceremony, which takes place on Friday 17 November at Liverpool Cathedral.

This difficult task of shortlisting the entries fell upon the esteemed judging panel which includes Michelle Dow, managing director of All About STEM; James Tartt, Merseyside track athlete and architect; Radio City breakfast host Leanne Campbell; Councillor Gary Millar, assistant mayor & mayoral lead for business & international trade; Chris Walker, regional managing editor of Trinity Mirror North West and North Wales; Lesley Martin-Wright, chief executive of Knowsley Chamber; Fiona Barnet, director of The Foundry Agency; Andrew Pimbley of Wirral’s Claremont Farm; Sue Cronin, head of teacher education at Liverpool Hope University and the education team at the respected Everyman and Playhouse Theatres.

Held in partnership with Copyrite Systems and Ricoh as title sponsors, other category sponsors include Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU); The Foundry Agency; Wray Brothers; Paul Crowley & Co; The Bishop of Liverpool, The Rt. Revd. Paul Bayes; MILK Education; The Liverpool Learning Partnership (LLP); Shaping Futures; All About STEM; Hi-Impact Consultancy; LSSP; Air Products; School Improvement Liverpool; CER Education and Progress Schools.

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