The team behind the Educate Awards has confirmed that there will be new categories open for entry this year.
The ‘Most Inspirational Alternative Provision by a School’ and ‘School Governor of the Year’ awards are amongst the latest additions.
The Most Inspirational Alternative Provision by a School category will recognise alternative providers and mainstream schools that are providing the highest quality of provision for students who are unable to access a mainstream curriculum for various reasons, for example, illness or behaviour issues. This award will now strengthen the group of ‘Most Inspirational’ 16-18 education provider, primary school and secondary school categories.
The School Governor of the Year Award will look for the most dedicated governor of a primary, secondary or specialist school who has a balance and diversity of knowledge, skills and experience, and goes above and beyond their voluntary role as a governor.
In addition, the Eco School Project of the Year award will become the ‘Outstanding Commitment to the Environment’. This category will commend schools, academies and colleges who are making a considerable effort to be environmentally friendly and are encouraging pupils, students, staff and the wider community to think about their actions, for example recycling, cutting out single-use plastics, travelling responsibly or eating sustainably.
The STEM Project of the Year Award will also be renamed to ‘Outstanding Commitment to STEM’. The award will honour schools, academies and colleges which have a range of ongoing projects that promote the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects, rather than just one project.
Finally the Spirit of Enterprise and the Career Aspiration Award will merge and become the ‘Careers and Enterprise Award’. This category will recognise schools, academies and colleges which are teaching students about the range of career pathways and opportunities available to them, whilst also developing a spirit for enterprise amongst students and encouraging entrepreneurship.
Now in its ninth year, the awards is open to schools, academies and colleges across the Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Manchester and Lancashire.
Kim O’Brien, founder of the Educate Awards, said: “Every year we evaluate each of the 21 categories to ensure they continue to be relevant to schools, academies and colleges in the North West.
“By introducing new awards or changing the criteria of current ones, it helps to keep the awards up-to-date and in line with what is important in education.”
With entries now open for 2020 until Sunday 21 June, Kim added: “Now is a good time to start thinking about your submissions and plan which categories you intend to enter. We have some great advice on our website on how to make the most of your entry which is a great place to start. Good luck!”
For tips on how to make your entries standout, visit: educateawards.co.uk/tips.
The confirmed 2020 sponsors so far are All About STEM, CER, Liverpool Diocesan Schools Trust, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool School Sports Partnership, SupplyWell and Winstanley College.