Town has two of the best teaching assistants in UK
MARIA AND LUCY MAKE IT A DOUBLE SUCCESS
TWO outstanding teaching assistants who work within a quarter of a mile of each other have been honoured at the National Teaching Awards.
Maria Gallagher, of Ashmount School in Loughborough, and Lucy Brotherhood, from Charnwood College, just up the road, made up half of the four national winners in the teaching assistant of the year category at the Pearson National Teaching Awards.
The awards were created 22 years ago to celebrate the very best educators from all over the UK.
The latest set of awards were handed out last week and, across all the categories, there were 76 national winners of a silver award, which celebrates an outstanding commitment to education.
They are now in the running for one of just 14 gold awards later in the year, in a programme which will be broadcast on the BBC.
Alastair O’Connor, principal of Charnwood College, praised Lucy’s hard work with students.
“Dedicated, kind and understanding are just three of the words students use when talking about Lucy,” he said.
“Lucy works tirelessly with our students, ensuring that they never fall behind. She knows every student’s individual need and works with the teacher in the lesson to make sure the students are able to access the learning.
“She has a strong work ethic which she employs with the students, showing them that, through hard work and dedication, they can achieve.
“She helps them to become confident and resilient learners who challenge themselves to achieve their very best.
“Lucy is the driving force behind our accelerated reading programme, our library is constantly growing. Last year our Year 7 students read 16 million words between them before lockdown.
“She is a well-deserved recipient of this prestigious award.”
The second winner, Maria, is involved in all aspects of school life at Ashmount, acting as a family support worker, deputy designated senior lead for child protection, emotional literacy support assistant and staff governor.
She was the driving force behind Ashmount becoming a Forest School and is now training other staff in these skills to help even more students benefit.
A Forest School is defined by the Forest School Association as a “child-centred, inspirational learning process that offers opportunities for holistic growth through regular sessions”. It is a long-term programme that supports play, exploration and supported risk taking (and) develops confidence and self-esteem through learner inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.
After picking up the award, Maria said: “I am thrilled to have won. Working with the staff, children and young people and their families at Ashmount has always been reward enough, but it is lovely to have my efforts recognised in this way.”
Headteacher David Deacon said: “We are so pleased that Maria has been recognised for all of her hard work and dedication.
“Maria’s efforts have made a huge difference to the lives of the children and young people and their families that she supports on a daily basis.”
All the national winners and nominees were applauded by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, who said: “My warmest congratulations go to all this year’s silver award winners.
“They should be proud to receive this recognition of their commitment to the profession, and the outstanding education and guidance they provide for their students.
“Teachers and school staff up and down the country consistently go above and beyond for their students, and this is especially true over the past few months. It is down to their hard work that schools have been able to open their gates to all pupils again for the start of the new term, and I cannot say thank you enough for everything they have done.”