This week, Kip McGrath announced the winner of its Awesome Teacher competition where students and their families nominated teachers who had made a positive impact over the recent months. In a close competition with many wonderful teachers mentioned, the winner was named as Miss Denham who teaches Bumblebee Class at Norton Hill Primary School. Parents said that she had given the children in her class many creative ideas to develop their love of learning as well as nurturing their wellbeing.

Sarah Richards, Centre Director at Kip McGrath Midsomer Norton (and former Head of Subject at Norton Hill School) awarded the coveted "Awesome Teacher Award" trophy as well as prize vouchers and flowers to Miss Denham, and also gave the school Book Tokens for the benefit of all the students there.

On receiving the award, Miss Denham said, "I am honoured and delighted to receive this award. I want to extend my gratitude to our parents for nominating me and my thanks to the school who are always supportive."

Kip McGrath Education Centre provides expert English and Maths tuition for students aged 6–16 both online and in centre. Sarah ran a community competition in February to find teachers who had made a special impact to their students' experiences during the pandemic and showed themselves to be "Awesome Teachers". Sarah's centre offers tuition to students from over 25 different schools in the area, and all had a teacher nominated.

Mrs Kerrie Courtier, Executive Head Teacher at Norton Hill Primary added, "We are delighted to hear that Miss Denham was nominated for the Awesome Teacher Award run by Kip McGrath. Miss Denham and her fabulous HLTA Rachael Howard went above and beyond to make sure our children had an immense start to their school life."

Mrs Courtier, as Executive Headteacher for School Improvement for the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership, reports that as a Multi Academy Trust they employ in excess of seven hundred teachers, across Primary, Secondary and the Special School phases. "All have worked exceptionally hard during lockdown and gone beyond expectations to support pupils and their families during this difficult time. Additionally, the Trust has provided

a significant number of devices (targeting about 8% of the student population of the Trust) to families who previously could not access remote learning."

Sarah Richards of Kip McGrath wanted to thank all the teachers, teaching assistants and adults involved in educating our young people and is greatly looking forward to the next competition - look out for the Facebook page announcement!