The winners of the 2013 Northamptonshire Education Awards have been announced during a ceremony attended by more than 500 people.
Pupils, teachers and schools were handed awards during an event held on Thursday night at the Park Inn in Northampton town centre.
The winner of the ICT awards was Simon de Senlis Primary School for their use of iPads and Powerpoint to help children with moderate learning difficulties improve their understanding of the written word.
The winner of this year’s Best in Primary Award was South End Primary School in Rushden for creating a library featuring “real-life” settings where pupils can read as if they are on a train or a beach.
The Best in Secondary Award went to Sponne School in Towcester which has achieved an ‘outstanding’ rating in their latest Ofsted report, has retained it’s Gold artsmark status and was recently selected as a finalist in the National Governor’s Association Outstanding Governance Award.
The winner of the Inspirational Teaching Award was Danielle McCrory, an English teacher at Wrenn School who “continually exceeds expectations”.
The leadership team award went to Grendon CofE Primary School which achieved “outstanding” status in its latest Ofsted report and is currently ranked in the top one per cent all of primary school in England.
The individual sports achievement award went to 12-year-old Northampton School for Girls pupil Eva Ressel who has become the highest graded junior in the Northamptonshire Schools Chess Squad and for the second year running has qualified to represent England.
The team sports award was won by Weavers School’s Under 14 basketball team which is ranked one of the four best under 14 basketball teams in the country.
The winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award was Lynda Morgan, who has been headteacher of Maplefields School in Corby since 1998.
Park Junior School was the winner of this year’s School of the Year Award after a year in which it was awarded the ‘outstanding’ rating for behaviour and safety, spiritual, moral, social and cultural aspects.
David Summers, Northampton Chronicle & Echo editor, said: “The night is all about publicly rewarding the efforts and achievements of pupils, staff and volunteers and this year we have received more entries than ever before with over half the entries unfortunately not making the finals.”
The winners of the Youth Ambition Awards, organised by Northamptonshire County Council were also announced on Thursday night.
The winner of the Arts Awards was Duston-based Liberty Drums Corps, The Young Apprentice Award was won by Chloe Botterill.
The project or campaign of the year was won by the Children in Care Forum and the Role Model of the Year Award was won by William Land.
The Social Enterprise Award, sponsored by the University of Northampton, was won by Stephen Mitchell.