Teaching Awards

The Teaching Awards are open to anyone wishing to nominate a head, deputy head, teacher and teaching assistant currently teaching in England, Wales or Northern Ireland; from all schools whether state maintained or independent, excluding employees of the Teaching Awards company Ltd and their families..  All schools are eligible to be nominated for the DCSF Award for Sustainable Schools.

Hereinafter the term “nominee” refers to a head, deputy head, teacher, teaching assistant, governor or school nominated for a Teaching Award.

For the purpose of these Awards:

Primary includes Foundation level / Early Years practitioners working with pupils in the 3-11 age range. This covers teachers in all schools teaching up to Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, including qualified teachers of nursery aged pupils in primary schools, teachers in maintained and independent nursery schools and teachers in independent schools with nursery provision. It also includes teachers in Middle Schools deemed Primary.

Secondary includes practitioners working in all types of secondary schools with pupils in the age range 11-18 yrs old. This covers teachers in all schools with pupils above the age of eleven, and also includes teachers in Middle Schools deemed Secondary.

Where a nominee teaches both primary and secondary aged pupils, as defined above, the nomination should be made in the sector in which the majority of teaching time is spent.

 A nominated teacher must have qualified teacher status. All full time, part time and peripatetic teachers and teaching assistants from every subject and activity area are eligible for nomination, including teaching and non-teaching heads.

A nominee who has retired or will retire prior to the end of March 2009 cannot be nominated for an award. The Teaching Awards Trust cannot accept posthumous nominations or nominations for retired practitioners.  A nominee cannot nominate themselves for an award.  Previous Teaching Award winners are not eligible for re-nomination.

The Teaching Awards has the right to withdraw a nomination if it becomes clear that the nominated head, deputy or teacher does not have qualified teacher status, the nomination is not endorsed by the senior management team at the teacher or teaching assistant’s school or evidence supporting the nomination is found to be false or written by the nominee. The Teaching Awards shall be permitted to exclude any entrant at any time at its sole discretion.

Individuals may make as many nominations as they wish provided each entry is submitted online.  However, schools can only endorse a maximum of one nomination per category each year, even if more members of staff have been nominated.  Additionally a nominee may only be endorsed in a single category in any one awards year.

All endorsed nominations must be received by 5.00pm on 08 March 2009. Nominations received after the closing date will not be accepted, nor will any that are incomplete on this date. Nominations are accepted only via the Teaching Awards website www.teachingawards.com. Any nominations emailed, posted or faxed will not be accepted.  The Teaching Awards accepts no responsibility for failure to submit nominations by the stated deadline or for incomplete nominations or those lost due to problems with the internet.  Proof of completion is not proof of delivery.

If during the course of the nomination period the nominee changes school, both the previous and current school may be required to provide evidence concerning the nominee for judging purposes.

If during the course of the nomination period the nominee retires or takes maternity/paternity leave the nominee may be required to return to the school to be observed in the classroom where possible.

If during the course of the judging period the nominee is unable to be judged on the pre-agreed date e.g. due to illness, it may become necessary to discount the nomination. The Teaching Awards will do its best to help reschedule a judging visit within the allocated timescale. If this is not possible, the nomination can be resubmitted for the following awards year.

All material submitted as part of any entry and the copyright thereof, as well as the rights of any interviews, shall become the property of The Teaching Awards company ltd.  No nomination will be returned.

The nominee and nominator give all consents necessary for The Teaching Awards to produce publicity material based on the nomination and endorsement and agree to participate without financial reward in interviews, which may be used by the Trust in any form in the media worldwide.

The Teaching Awards may, at its discretion, change the award category for which any nomination is made.

The decision of the award panels is final in every situation, as is that of the Teaching Awards in all matters affecting the awards, and no correspondence on this topic will be entered into.

Entry to the Teaching Awards is deemed acceptance of these rules and agreement to be bound by them. By agreeing to these Terms and Conditions, you also agree to our general website terms and conditions.

The Teaching Awards Trust reserves the right to change these terms and conditions at any time by posting changes online.