Staff at a Dulwich school are celebrating being named the ‘most thanked’ school in the UK after one of their teachers was given a national award.
According to data from the Thank a Teacher campaign, staff at Kingsdale Foundation School have received more thank you messages than any other school across the United Kingdom, and have received more than 2,000 Thank You messages since the start of June.
The news comes as schools across the country celebrate Thank a Teacher Day, a national campaign to honour and recognise school and college staff for their work, especially over the past year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The campaign was run by educational resources company Pearson, which also handed out awards to 102 teachers across the country – including Kingsdale’s performing arts director Mary Graham. Ms Graham got her award from local MP Helen Hayes and south London actress and TV presenter Baroness Floella Benjamin.
Steve Morrison, executive headteacher of The Kingsdale Foundation, said: “Not everything of value can be measured by Ofsted Judgements or at all. However, the Thank a Teacher campaign has been both an inspiration and revelation to teachers and support staff at Kingsdale. The Pearson National Teaching Awards deserve enormous credit for creating a mechanism that enables students, parents and other interested parties to naturally and spontaneously express how they feel about their school and individual staff within it in a manner that can really be appreciated by the recipients.”
Steve Munby, Chair of the Teaching Awards Trust, said: “Today is our opportunity to say thank you to all the incredible teachers, lecturers and school support staff who work so hard every day to ensure our young people get the best possible start in life. We see the work you do, the impact you make, and the dedication you show, and we thank you for it.”
Mrs Graham is a wonderful teacher and thoroughly deserves her award.