Educate Awards announces new categories

The team behind the Educate Awards has confirmed that there will be new categories open for entry this year.

The ‘Most Inspirational Alternative Provision by a School’ and ‘School Governor of the Year’ awards are amongst the latest additions.

The Most Inspirational Alternative Provision by a School category will recognise alternative providers and mainstream schools that are providing the highest quality of provision for students who are unable to access a mainstream curriculum for various reasons, for example, illness or behaviour issues. This award will now strengthen the group of ‘Most Inspirational’ 16-18 education provider, primary school and secondary school categories.

The School Governor of the Year Award will look for the most dedicated governor of a primary, secondary or specialist school who has a balance and diversity of knowledge, skills and experience, and goes above and beyond their voluntary role as a governor.

In addition, the Eco School Project of the Year award will become the ‘Outstanding Commitment to the Environment’. This category will commend schools, academies and colleges who are making a considerable effort to be environmentally friendly and are encouraging pupils, students, staff and the wider community to think about their actions, for example recycling, cutting out single-use plastics, travelling responsibly or eating sustainably.

The STEM Project of the Year Award will also be renamed to ‘Outstanding Commitment to STEM’. The award will honour schools, academies and colleges which have a range of ongoing projects that promote the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects, rather than just one project.

Finally the Spirit of Enterprise and the Career Aspiration Award will merge and become the ‘Careers & Enterprise Award’. This category will recognise schools, academies and colleges which are teaching students about the range of career pathways and opportunities available to them, whilst also developing a spirit for enterprise amongst students and encouraging entrepreneurship.

Now in its ninth year, the awards is open to schools, academies and colleges across the Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Manchester and Lancashire.

Kim O’Brien, founder of the Educate Awards, said: “Every year we evaluate each of the 21 categories to ensure they continue to be relevant to schools, academies and colleges in the North West.

“By introducing new awards or changing the criteria of current ones, it helps to keep the awards up-to-date and in line with what is important in education.”

With entries now open for 2020 until Sunday 21 June, Kim added: “Now is a good time to start thinking about your submissions and plan which categories you intend to enter. We have some great advice on our website on how to make the most of your entry which is a great place to start. Good luck!”

For tips on how to make your entries standout, visit: educateawards.co.uk/tips.

At the time of going to press, Copyrite Systems and Ricoh have confirmed they will be joint title sponsors of the event for the fifth year running. So far, the confirmed associate sponsors are: All About STEM, Angel Solutions, CER, Liverpool Diocesan Schools Trust (LDST), Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Liverpool School Sports Partnership (LDST), SupplyWell and Winstanley College.

“Thank you so much for a wonderful evening, we were blown away by all the achievement in the room and honoured to win the Wow Recognition Award. See you next year!” Chorlton High School

“We had a fantastic evening on Friday 15 November. It was such an inspiring event, and we felt so honoured to be there. A thousand thanks to all the team who make this magnificent event so very special for all involved.” Netherton Moss Primary School

“A wonderful venue, a gathering of dedicated professionals, performances worthy of a West End Theatre, but most of all a celebration of what we all do, day in and day out, to help and guide the young people we serve. Thank you for a spectacular evening!” Wright Robinson College

AWARD CATEGORIES
The Communication Award
*NEW* Outstanding Commitment to the Environment
*NEW* Careers and Enterprise Award
SEND Provision Award
Innovative and Creative Literacy Award
*NEW* Outstanding Commitment to STEM
Outstanding Arts in Primary School
Outstanding Arts in Secondary School
Community Partnership Award
Mental Health & Wellbeing Award
Outstanding Commitment to Sport in Primary School
Outstanding Commitment to Sport in Secondary School
Leadership Team of the Year
*NEW* School Governor of the Year
Teacher of the Year
School Support Star of the Year
*NEW* Most Inspirational Alternative Provision by a School
Most Inspirational 16-18 Education Provider
Most Inspirational Secondary School
Most Inspirational Primary School
WOW Recognition Award