Outstanding new teachers honoured for their inspirational work

The winners of this year’s Ted Wragg Awards for Outstanding Trainees have inspired enthusiasm for learning among children in South West schools.

The prizes are given each year to new teachers who have trained at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Exeter in memory of Professor Ted Wragg. Professor Wragg was a hugely popular academic who championed the teaching profession and inspired a great many of today’s best teachers. His academic work was influential and his legacy can still be seen in today’s schools.

Professor Wragg, who died in 2005, was a primary and secondary school teacher who worked for 34 years at the University of Exeter. He wrote 800 academic articles and 50 books and was well known to many teachers thanks to his columns in the Guardian and Times Educational Supplement and the TV and radio programmes on education he presented.

Ted Wragg Award winners are nominated by their tutors at the University and have demonstrated strong subject knowledge, excellent communication and people skills, very well-developed academic skills, as well as the ability to inspire their pupils and have a real impact on their learning. They are creative, able to think on their feet and confident.

Hilary Kinch, who won the award for primary PGCE English, worked as a Learning Support Assistant in an inner-city school before starting the course. Todd Withers, who won the award for PGCE primary maths, worked in the banking sector for a year and in South Korea teaching English as a foreign language for two years. Lydia Ferris, who won the prize for teaching and learning, had worked for a legal recruitment firm in London before starting her PGCE course.

Dinah Warren, Programme Director for School Direct and Head of Initial Teacher Education at the Graduate School of Education, said: “We are proud of all our trainee teachers on all of our PGCE programmes. It’s a tough training year but we are confident that it prepares them well for a rewarding and fulfilling career in teaching. To win a Ted Wragg award you need to be particularly special.”

Primary:
PGCE English: Hilary Kinch – Coppermill Primary School
PGCE Humanities: Emily Baxter - Feniton CoE Primary
PGCE Mathematics: Todd Withers – Dunsford CP School
PGCE Science: Helen Ryland – Woodbury Salterton CoE Primary
PGCE Teaching & Learning: Lydia Ferris – Wiveliscombe Primary
School Direct@Exeter PGCE: Ben Dawe – Willowbrook School
School Direct (Distance Learning) PGCE: Debbi Williams and Jo Daniel – Westfield Arts College and Okehampton Primary School

Secondary:
PGCE Mathematics: Amy Cockburn – Paignton Community and Sports College
PGCE Science: Danielle Poulton & Siobhan Fenner – The Bishop of Winchester Academy and Torquay Academy
PGCE Dance: Sarah Dee – Sheldon School
PGCE English: Karina Dias Rios – St Luke’s Science and Sports College
PGCE Modern Foreign Languages: Stephanie Scullion – St James School
PGCE PE: Sophie Appleby – Exmouth Community College
PGCE RE: Lois Valstone- Uffculme School 
PGCE History: Jack Pettitt – Bodmin College
School Direct (Distance Learning): Natalie Halford and Martin Dewberry – Queen Elizabeth’s School, Wimborne and Saltash.net Community School