Inspirational Lincolnshire school partnership honoured in prestigious UK celebration of teaching
KYRA has won the Silver Award in The Award for Impact through Partnership at the 2022 Pearson National Teaching Awards.
On Thursday 26 May 2022, KYRA - a partnership of Lincolnshire schools and one of our SPP Strategic Partners - was named as one of 80 Pearson National Teaching Award Silver Award winners across the country. KYRA was honoured with a Silver Award in The Award for Impact through Partnership for their outstanding commitment to changing the lives of the children they work with every day.
KYRA is a voluntary and invitational partnership of Primary schools across Lincolnshire. The collaboration began over 10 years ago as a group of school leaders began to ask themselves how they could collaborate and support one another to deliver excellence to the pupils and community they served.
In 2012 one of these schools, Mount Street Academy, was successful in being designated as a national Teaching School and, as a result, KYRA was formed with the overriding mission to be ambitious for children. This year KYRA celebrates its tenth birthday, having grown to become a thriving partnership of over 70 schools, supported by Anthem Schools Trust - an education charity set up by Education Development Trust. This group of schools has continued to work together to ensure the partnership is sustainable, taking collective responsibility for the 11,575 pupils they serve, and securing great teaching and leadership. Since 2016, SPP has had the privilege of working with these KYRA schools, supporting their collaboration and improvement efforts using our peer review framework and sharing their commitment to a sustainable, impactful and collaborative culture. As one of our more mature partnerships, KYRA has become one of our Strategic Partners.
As a Silver Award winner, KYRA has now been shortlisted to win one of just 16 Gold Awards later in the year. Recognition of this once in a lifetime achievement will be broadcast on the BBC’s The One Show as part of a week-long celebration of teaching, which sees famous faces honour award winners every night in the run up to the ceremony. This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the exceptional school leaders and teachers who have worked wonders to bring together their local communities despite the challenges of the past few years.
The Silver Award winners are being honoured as part of the wider celebrations for national ‘Thank a Teacher Day’, bringing together everyone across the country to celebrate the schools and colleges at the heart of our communities.
The Pearson National Teaching Awards is an annual celebration of excellence in education, founded in 1998 by Lord Puttnam to recognise the life-changing impact an inspirational teacher can have on the lives of the young people they work with. This year marks its 23rd year of celebrating our school teaching staff across the UK.
Rebecca Clarke, Chair of Trustees of Anthem Schools Trust, said:
“We are delighted to be able to celebrate KYRA today. As a Trust we firmly believe in the power and potential of purposeful collaboration. We’re incredibly proud to be associated with this powerful and effective group of schools, who are committed to working together to make a difference to children and young people.”
Sharon Hague, Managing Director of Schools at Pearson UK, said:
“Congratulations to today’s Silver Award winners on their incredible achievement; they should all feel very proud of themselves. And thank you to all the incredible educators and support staff across this country who really do make our schools and colleges so special. I am delighted that we can take this opportunity to say how much we appreciate all that you do for the young people in your care.”
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said:
“Congratulations to KYRA on this incredible achievement, and for the hard work and dedication that led up to it. Winning this award is impressive, well-deserved and shows KYRA’s commitment to helping students achieve their full potential.”
Michael Morpurgo, celebrated author and former Children’s Laureate, and President of the Teaching Awards Trust, said:
“For so many of us, it was someone at school who changed our lives, was at our side through hard and difficult times, who lifted us up when we were down, helped us find our voice, gave us confidence when we needed it most, and set us on a path that we have followed ever since.
“No matter who we are, school has touched our lives and played a central role in our childhoods. School is about so much more than learning, and we see that now more than ever before. Schools really are the beating heart of our communities. Every person that cares for our children in schools should be celebrated loud and clear on Thank A Teacher Day 2022.”