Karen Hutchings of New Park Primary School takes ‘Headteacher of the Year’ at the prestigious 2016 TES Schools Awards

London, 24 June 2016: Karen Hutchings of New Park Primary school in Liverpool, has taken the ‘Headteacher of the Year’ award at the prestigious 2016 TES Schools Awards. The awards, now in their eighth year, recognise outstanding contributions made by education teams and individuals to help students around the country to succeed, both inside and outside the classroom.

Since Karen Hutchings became headteacher of New Park Primary School, she has made it her mission to grow and sustain it into a highly successful and supportive school. In 2015, Ofsted praised Hutchings’ exceptional leadership skills and her promotion of a culture in which nothing is accepted as simply good enough.

Hutchings is a leader who is willing to share best practice and lends her expertise to mentor new headteachers and partners with several struggling schools.

The judges said “This remarkable headteacher demonstrates an uncompromising drive and willingness to do the best for her staff and students, who in turn not only share this ethos but achieve wonderful results.”

Ann Mroz, editor of TES, commented: “Karen Hutchings is a shining example of a headteacher who epitomises inspirational leadership.”

Winners attended a black-tie event in at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, hosted by TV host and comedian Dara Ó Briain, where over 1,000 attendees celebrated all that is outstanding in UK education, from the efforts of individual teachers to the work of entire schools.

There are 17 awards categories including the flagship individual titles: Teacher of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Headteacher of the Year, and awards for teams and/or teachers in areas such as maths, arts and drama, English, science technology and engineering.

The winners were chosen by a panel of judges including Colin Bell, the chief executive of the Council of British International Schools, Dame Joan McVittie, former headteacher of Woodside High School, Sir Tim Brighouse, former schools commissioner for London and Colin Hegarty, maths teacher and founder of HegartyMaths.

The list of this year’s categories is as follows (Full details of the winners can be viewed here):

• Headteacher of the year
• Lifetime achievement award
• Teacher blogger of the year
• Bev Evans resource contributor of the year
• Community and collaboration award
• International (including MFL) award
• Healthy school of the year
• Creative school of the year
• English teacher or team of the year
• Arts and Drama teacher or team of the year
• Science, technology and engineering teacher or team of the year
• Maths teacher or team of the year
• Early years setting of the year
• Primary school of the year
• Secondary school of the year
• Alternative provision school of the year
• Overall school of the year

For more coverage of the awards, profiles of the winners and photos from the evening, please visit www.tesawards.co.uk or pick up a copy of TES magazine, available in newsagents from 1 July.

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