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We are delighted to share with you that the announcement for the National Teaching Awards 2018 on Friday included a Lifetime Achievement Award for Highlands School’s Head Teacher, Mr. Bruce Goddard.
The prestigious National Teaching Awards held annually and run by Pearsons, are often referred to as “The Oscars” of the teaching profession. Mr. Goddard has won the silver award and is now in line to be considered for the overall gold award winner in his category.
His nomination included the following extracts:
“It is extremely hard to lead a school to become outstanding from satisfactory in 5 years. It is even harder to maintain that in the face of increasing pressures such as changes to the curriculum, financial pressures, the collapse of Carillion (our facilities management company), ever increasing numbers of students with very high needs such as those with Education, Health and Care Plans, physical disability, and children who are “Looked After” . Hardest of all is to do that cheerfully, calmly whilst maintaining high staff morale throughout. That is remarkable indeed.”
“Bruce is a true head teacher. He is generous and relentless in his pursuit of excellence on behalf of all his students, skilled in spotting and unlocking potential, inspiring in his enthusiasm for and modelling of lifelong learning.”
“The best way to summarise Bruce’s achievements is to recognize that under his leadership, applications for school places has risen year on year and we now receive more than 5 applicants for every place and always fill Year 7 with students who have been given their first choice of secondary school.”
Mr Goddard will attend a celebratory tea at the House of Commons on July 4; and on October 21st, at a star-studded ceremony in London titled ‘Britain’s Classroom Heroes’ broadcast on BBC2, he will find out if he is a recipient of one of 12 Gold Plato awards at the “Oscars” for teachers.
Congratulations also to Caron Fitzgerald and Nicola Lawley, who are also teachers at Highlands and who were awarded Certificates of Excellence at the Pearson Teaching Awards 2018.
