School in the Community Award

CHS South

CHS South is a school dedicated to ensuring that, through its student body and staff, it is firmly entrenched in the local community. Each year group has form champions and wellbeing champions who - alongside a school council - help plan community activities for students to take part in. Every year, the council, form champions and wellbeing champions hold a community litter pick in Chorlton, helping ensure the local area is clean and tidy. The student body has engaged in a range of other projects - including organising toiletry and food donations for local shelters and food banks, and fundraising for organisations such as the Stephen Lawrence Foundation and Cancer Research among others.

St Albans Catholic Primary School

St Alban’s Catholic Primary School has been supporting local hospitals since 2009 - and in 2021, families of the school were keen to do something for Wythenshawe Hospital Charity and NHS staff at Christmastime. The school sourced gifts of toiletries and refreshments from pupils and their families - to serve as care packages for staff at the hospital. Students also carried out fundraising - taking part in a Christmas jumper day, they were able to raise £947 for the Wythenshawe Hospital Charity - with the money going to the hospital’s Starlight Unit, which is a satellite ward of the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

William Hulme’s Grammar School

The core values of William Hulme’s Grammar School were put on full display when a group of teachers, support staff and students formed a team dedicated to helping Afghan refugee children. The group produced engaging and creative activities, which were taken alongside other resources to the hotel where refugees were staying. The pupils also worked to form positive relationships with the refugee children - through various activities including arts and crafts and sport - providing empathy and understanding during a difficult time. The team also arranged the ‘Afghan Aid Project’ - sourcing donations for shoe boxes that would be filled with toys, books, notepads, crayons, stress balls and more - giving out more than 100 of these boxes at Christmas.

High School Class - Team of the Year

The Barlow RC High School

Anti-Bullying Ambassadors The Barlow is committed to removing barriers to learning for all of our students. Our Catholic mission is to “value our God given talents; to bring out the best in everyone, within a safe and happy environment” and our Anti-Bullying Ambassador (ABA) Team do just that. Twelve of our amazing students, across all years, were trained in December 2018 by ‘The Diana Award’ charity, whose programme was founded as a legacy to Diana, Princess of Wales’ belief that young people have the power to change the world for the better. This is certainly a belief that our ABA Team strive to embody through the important work that they undertake in our school.

North Chadderton

Over the last year, the under-15s Netball team at North Chadderton have become the most-decorated team to have ever represented the school. The team started the 2021/22 season by becoming the Oldham Schools netball champions, before becoming the Greater Manchester County Champions in March of 2022. The netball team also became the under-15 national champions at the Sisters ‘n’ Sport Schools Cup finals. This success was made possible by the constant dedication and drive to excel displayed by all nine members of the team. Their camaraderie, and commitment to ensuring that all of them play their best and enjoy the sport has made them role models for the other students at North Chadderton - and will doubtless continue to help them excel.

Stockport Academy

The Stockport Academy student council has consistently shown the commitment and sense of responsibility necessary to be a truly effective team, and help improve the school. In the time that the current council has been active it has engaged in a range of initiatives to give students a voice and improve their experience of school. This includes meeting with catering contractors to share student views on menus, working to create new extra-curricular clubs, managing a half-day visit from a local mp and seeking student views on transitioning out of covid restrictions, just to name a few. This dedication has shown that the current council is more than worthy of the responsibility it has been given.

Primary School Teacher of the Year

Lucy McQuaid - Summerseat Methodist Primary School

Lucy McQuaid has proven herself to be a truly committed teacher, passionate about learning and determined to help every pupil reach their full potential. One of Lucy’s key aims has been to improve outdoor provision for students - producing innovative forest school activities that give students the chance to explore, learn and develop their personal skills. Suiting these activities to the needs of each individual child, Lucy is able to help spark significant personal development - and produce a learning environment that makes pupils feel comfortable and encouraged. Lucy’s dedication has made her an invaluable member of the team at Summerseat.

Denis Moran - Manchester Hospital School

With more than 22 years of experience in education, Denis Moran has demonstrated exemplary dedication and compassion while teaching at the Manchester Children’s Hospital school. As a PE teacher, Denis works with children across the wards from reception to year six - while also teaching secondary school children when called upon. Denis strives to ensure that these children are able to enjoy themselves and thrive in spite of the struggles they may be facing - organising sporting competitions across the hospital for both patients and staff, organising the daily mile for children and families - and ensuring that the hospital is signed up with sporting associations, to provide opportunities to the children

Mr Nick Peach - Moor Allerton Prep School

Since joining Moor Allerton Prep School in 2008, Nick Peach has shown a constant willingness to go the extra mile and help students flourish. Working as a specialist PE teacher, as well as specialist art, design and technology teacher, Nick has also overseen safeguarding at the school, and taught at Moor Allerton’s holiday club. This holiday club provides students with a variety of activities over summer, and Nick has consistently worked to provide new activities and new places to visit - helping students become independent, and learn to enjoy the great outdoors. Even during the pandemic, Nick maintained his dedication - developing an outdoor curriculum that gave students vital opportunities to experience the outdoors safely.

High School Teacher of the Year

Mr Bradley Heap - Hollinwood Academy

Bradley Heap has shown a fierce commitment to supporting students - providing them with opportunities to develop and grow, while also treating them with a respect and compassion that helps increase their confidence and readiness to engage. Mr Heap works to help students pursue their interests, and become more independent - among other things, having delivered the Duke of Edinburgh Awards for the school. He has also provided students with volunteering opportunities, and responsibilities including errands to the supermarket. Even these small tasks give students a chance to feel more independent and confident, and builds respect between Mr Heap and his students.

Corie Higgins - Stockport Academy

As a member of the faculty at Stockport Academy, Corie Higgins has demonstrated time and again a desire to help students reach their full potential. Corie leads the school’s mentor program, which sees year 10 students mentor year 7’s, and which is designed to help students better express themselves and learn to support one another. Corie also hosts a range of breakfast clubs, workshops, lunchtime meetings and after school meetings - all to provide struggling students with a supportive environment, and the ability to speak freely. As a teacher, Corie works to ensure that the curriculum is engaging for students - with subjects and teaching materials that enthuse students and encourage them to develop their talents.

Stephanie Turner - The Barlow RC High School

As a faculty leader, Stephanie Turner has proved herself to be someone with a constant willingness to help others - whether members of staff or students. Be it advice on teaching, giving up a free period to plan a lesson, or helping a struggling student, Stephanie is always generous with her time and energy. When the progress of boys at the school was a concern Stephanie stepped in to help - tailoring units of study to them, ensuring that they were relevant to today’s teenagers. As a result, achievement drastically improved. This commitment to helping students and staff alike has won Stephanie the admiration of the whole team at The Barlow RC High School.

Wellbeing Award

The Barlow RC High School

The Barlow RC High School works to provide staff and students with proper mental health support - and an environment which takes their concerns and struggles seriously. The school offers a wide range of bespoke support services - including talking therapies, bake mentoring sessions, mindfulness activities and a breakfast club for struggling students. The school also holds mental health awareness assemblies, seeking to remove the stigma around such issues and help pupils and staff speak out. With a high number of young carer students, The Barlow RC High School provides comprehensive support services - including mental health support, bereavement support and bullying support among others.

Moor Allerton Prep School

Moor Allerton Prep School has engaged in a variety of projects designed to improve the wellbeing of its students. One of the school’s main focuses is literacy - fundraising for the refurbishment and restocking of its library, to meet the needs of an increasing student population. Moor Allerton also encourages reading outside of school - donating 25% of the funds raised to a project that distributes free books to families around Manchester. The school also engaged in the ‘March in March’ project - which encouraged students and their families to walk a certain distance each week, improving health and promoting family activity.

Summerseat Methodist Primary School

The wellbeing of students is at the heart of Summerseat primary school - and it strives to promote positive mental health and wellness for every member of staff and every student. The school does emotions check-ins each morning, to help students get ready to learn and express their feelings. Each classroom also contains a calm space, with music, cosy pods and toys that students are encouraged to access whenever they need - giving them a sense of the importance of relaxation and preserving mental health. Summerseat also recently improved its outdoor spaces, which has given students the chance to grow fruit and vegetables together - giving them the chance to socialise, learn a skill and understand the importance of healthy eating.

Primary School Head Teacher of the Year

Philip Barlow - Chantlers Primary School

As a headteacher, Philip Barlow has remained committed to his belief that all children deserve the best education - and has led his work at Chantlers Primary School with that ethos. Philip took over as headteacher nine years ago, and has since helped the school achieve fantastic results - reaching the top 1% of schools nationally in 2019. During the pandemic, Philip worked tirelessly to keep spirits up and alleviate hardship - holding remote art competitions, easter egg deliveries to 287 children, and the delivery of food parcels to vulnerable and elderly people. His dedication to creating an inclusive, encouraging learning environment has won him the admiration of his peers at Chantlers.

Kate Unsworth - Moor Allerton Preparatory School

Kate Unsworth joined Moor Allerton Preparatory School in 2019, and has since strived to make sure it is a highly achieving school that students and parents feel truly connected to. Kate set up an app for the school, ‘class dojo’ - which gives parents a chance to communicate with the school and which sees more than 4000 messages exchanged a week. Kate also introduced parent engagement weeks, in which parents would observe and interact with classes. Kate has also worked to ensure that Moor Allerton is an inclusive school - setting up a scholarship programme for children in the local area. This commitment has helped the school achieve outstanding results in recent years.

Julie Whittaker - Summerseat Methodist Primary School

Despite the obstacles of the pandemic, Julie Whitakker has worked to guide Summerseat Methodist Primary School through a difficult time. The last couple of years had been a difficult time for Summerseat - with the pandemic, local floods and an explosion in the village among other things - yet Julie has been relentless in ensuring that school is a place where students can continue to flourish, and navigate these challenging situations. She has offered unfailing support to families - both in and out of school - and has helped transform Summerseat into a high-achieving school that meets the needs of all its students. Julie’s constant work to help students and the school has made her a beacon of hope and aspiration for many children at Summerseat, and their families.

High School Head Teacher of the Year

James Eldon - Manchester Academy

Since joining Manchester Academy in 2018, James Eldon has proven himself to be an outstanding leader - helping improve the school even through covid. During the pandemic period, James led a successful bid to secure funding for a new sports pitch for the academy - hoping to make it easier for students to return to normal once they came back to school. He also oversaw a rollout of more than 800 laptops to students, and the rollout of remote learning - ensuring a minimum of disruption to the students’ education. During this time James also put school resources to use in helping the community - organising staff and resources to aid in the distribution of food to families via food banks.

Dominic Mckeon - Little Lever School

Dominic Mckeon joined Little Lever School as headteacher in 2016 - and in the years since has led the school through a drastic improvement. Dominic has worked to create a supportive learning environment for students - and a working environment for staff based on respect and positivity. This continued during the pandemic, with Dominic ensuring provision for online lessons that would help pupils continue to learn - providing laptops and food vouchers to ensure families had everything they needed. Dominic also made sure that teachers received proper training to deliver live lessons - and was in constant contact with families to make this process as smooth as possible. Dominic’s efforts have seen Little Lever School named one of the UK’s most improved schools - and garnered it an OFSTED rating of ‘good’ in all areas in 2022.

Riffat Wall - Urmston Grammar School

As head teacher at Urmston Grammar School, Riffat Wall has shown a willingness to go above and beyond to create a great learning environment for students. Throughout the pandemic, Riffat was in constant communication with staff, students and families - ensuring that they had the information and resources they needed to help learning continue with as little disruption as possible. Riffat also led the school in adhering to strict health and safety measures, to keep risks to pupils and staff as low as possible. Constantly taking a hands-on approach, Riffat’s commitment and selflessness has won her the respect of staff, students and families alike.

School Support Staff of the Year

Don Farquhar - Stockport Academy

As a member of the support staff at Stockport Academy, Don Farquhar has demonstrated himself to be loyal, committed, and constantly putting students first. In his role as attendance officer, Don has overseen a rise in attendance of 3% - and despite the pandemic this figure remains above the national average. Don’s success is due to his desire to remove barriers to education - this has involved working with families, home visits to ensure students feel safe, and a consistent system of rewarding improvements. In doing so, Don has created a culture in which students want to attend school. This commitment to putting students first was on full display during the pandemic - when Don performed regular well-being check-ins, as well as delivering covid test and food to families.

Mrs Hough - The Ferns Primary Academy

Mrs Hough has gone above and beyond to help students and families while working as a member of the support staff at The Ferns Primary Academy. One of her most impressive and important achievements has been helping a family with four children struggling at school. Providing them with the time and support they needed, Mrs Hough helped these students work through their anxiety and struggles at school - and has helped bring them up to their expected levels of achievement despite the pandemic taking them out of school for months. Mrs Hough has also provided consistent extra-curricular support - checking in with the families on half terms and days off to ensure that they are all right.

Mary Monaghan - Newall Green Primary School

Newall Green Primary School has been a consistent supporter of the Wythenshawe Hospital Charity - and Mary Monaghan has distinguished herself at the forefront of fundraising for this cause. Mary set up a group called the Charity Angels, which taught students about the importance of charity work, and the impact their fundraising would have. Mary has led the group in organising a variety of fundraising activities for the hospital - including dress up days and cake sales - with the school ultimately raising £866 for the Wythenshawe Hospital Charity. This result would not have been possible without Mary and her tireless dedication to helping others

Primary School of the Year

Chantlers Primary School

Chantlers Primary School’s key goal is to create a learning environment where children feel appreciated, celebrated and as if there’s no limit to what they can achieve. The school works to produce a curriculum that speaks to pupils of all different backgrounds and experiences - so that learning is always engaging, impactful and equitable. The school has embarked on a variety of recent initiatives to improve its environment - redecorating much of the school so that pupils were more excited to return after the pandemic, and turning an overgrown part of the school grounds into a nature reserve and mental health hub. Chantlers’ efforts have helped it achieve excellent results - reaching the top 1% of schools nationally for student outcomes in 2019.

Grange School

Grange School is a school for children with autism aged 4-19 - and it strives to produce a curriculum that helps students get the most out of education, \nd reach their potential. The school has devised a wide-ranging and unique curriculum, covering a range of subjects. This includes full scale roleplay village in which pupils can learn life skills, 10ft glass igloos that offer immersive learning experiences on topics that are regularly changed, a farm at which students learn about animal care and life sciences, and a light up learning room that provides maths and communications lessons in a sensory way - to name just a few.

St Peter’s CE Primary

St Peter’s CE Primary is fiercely committed to providing a learning environment in which students grow to recognise their potential - to cultivate aspirations and then strive to meet them. The school recognises the importance of this given the large proportion of its student body who come from struggling families. The school’s curriculum is designed to support these students, through crime prevention and awareness programmes, mental health programmes - and a leadership development programme which encourages students to see themselves as leaders of tomorrow and advocates for positive change. This motivates students to make a difference - with the student body regularly engaging in charity work, and having raised more than £4000 so far this academic year.

Secondary School Teacher of the Year

Grange School

Grange School is a school for children with autism aged 4-19 - and it has gone above and beyond to create a learning environment that helps students enjoy learning, and develop their skills. Grange School has developed a unique curriculum that makes use of myriad different techniques and setups, all to bring out the full potential of students. This includes a fully functioning flat that gives pupils the chance to learn vital life skills, a coffee shop run by pupils that lets them fully train as baristas and acquire food hygiene and preparation qualifications, and 10ft glass igloos that offer immersive learning experiences on a wide range of topics - to name just a few.

The King David High School

The King David High School seeks to encourage every student to reach the highest levels of academic achievement, creativity and personal development. The school encourages every student regardless of background - giving them the support and engaging learning they need to succeed. This method has produced significant success for The King David High School and its students - with 74.27% of all A-level grades in 2021 being A*-A, and 89.2% of A-level grades being A*-B. Despite being a failing school at risk of closure in the 90s, the dedication of staff and students has helped turn King David around into the exemplary school it is today.

Stockport Academy

Stockport Academy is committed to ensuring high standards of education, and achieving great outcomes for its students. With a large proportion of students coming from deprived areas, Stockport Academy is determined to help these students aspire and achieve. The school also provides a wealth of extra-curricular clubs to help students thrive - with 54 taking place each week - as well as trips that give them the chance to gain experience and develop important skills. Stockport Academy also encourages student leadership - with peer mentors, a school council, a charity group, and literacy and numeracy leaders among others. The school keeps in constant contact with families through a parent’s forum - taking feedback and producing initiatives that will benefit students most.