North East Awards celebrate top teachers

Jun 17 2009 by Nicola Juncar, The Journal

STARS of education are being celebrated today at a ceremony to praise the region’s best teachers.

The North East and Cumbria heat of the Teaching Awards 2009 are being staged later today at The Sage, Gateshead.

Around 30 teaching staff have been shortlisted for the prestigious awards, which are once again being hosted by BBC presenter Wendy Gibson.

There are several award categories, including Outstanding New Teacher of the Year and Primary School Headteacher of the Year.

This year, an additional award, the General Teaching Council Award for Excellence in Professional Development, will be given in memory of Carol Adams, founding chief executive of the GTC.

The award will be presented to the finalist who has made a special contribution to training and developing the careers of others. One of the finalists attending is June Foster, who is nominated for the Primary School Headteacher of the Year Award.

For the last 14 years, Mrs Foster has worked at Moorside Primary in the West End of Newcastle, which is judged to be “outstanding” by Ofsted.

Described as a “dynamo” by her colleagues, she became the first head in Newcastle to be a National Leader in Education for the National College for School Leadership (NSCL).