Trafford school wins big at National awards held in London

Two major prizes have gone to schools in Greater Manchester at the Tes Schools Awards, one of the biggest nights in the UK education calendar which was held on Friday 23 June at the Grosvenor House Hotel, on London’s Park Lane.

• Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Setting of the Year: Lime Tree Primary School, Sale
• Specialist Provision of the Year: Rowan Tree Primary School, Atherton

Dubbed the ‘Oscars of Education’, the Tes Schools Awards is in its landmark 15 year. It celebrates the extraordinary commitment, quality and innovation shown by teachers and support staff across the UK.

Lime Tree Primary in Sale won the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Setting of the Year award for their holistic approach to achieving their aim of outstanding outcomes for children and their families.

They do this by delivering a well-resourced and stimulating early years curriculum and working closely with families to enable them to access help on a range of issues, including food bills, behaviour, mental and physical health, and financial difficulties.

Responsive and adaptive teaching strategies, including the use of emotion coaching and zones of regulation, encourage children to articulate their feelings and understand the importance of regulation.

This helps the children feel more comfortable in their environment and leads to improved personal, social and emotional development. It’s a consistent and coordinated approach that’s getting real results; in an area where children come in well below age-related expectations, Lime Tree’s children leave the EYFS setting with above-national-average levels of development.

Judge Professor Eunice Lumsden said: “This school and their EYFS provision stood out due to the very strong interdisciplinary approaches taken, the fantastic partnerships with families and their understanding of the local community.”

Head of School Clare Larkin from Lime Tree Primary said “We are so proud to have won this award – it is a huge accolade for the school. We are relentless in ensuring that everything we do delivers for our children.”

Danielle Llyod Lead Assistant Head teacher and Senco added: We believe that every child should have the best possible start to life and that’s what we strive to do. Early years is such an important part of school, it’s the foundation that everything else is built upon.”

Rowan Tree Primary School in Atherton won the Specialist Provision of the Year award for their incredible work around the impact of restrictive diets on their learners.

Back in 2019 the school recognised from staff and parent feedback that a high proportion of their learners had a restrictive diet due to their additional needs, with pupils often eating just one or two types of food. This was having a negative impact on the children’s weight, mood, oral health and ability to enjoy family meals.

Senior leaders committed time to researching avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) before developing a training plan for staff and families and a Food Facts curriculum which included daily personalised sessions for every one of the school’s 117 learners.

Rowan Tree Primary School is now providing training, resources and ongoing support to colleagues in mainstream schools across their local authority so that they too can support pupils with additional needs and ARFID.

Judge Vijita Patel said: “The evidence base presented by the school in their submission clearly demonstrated the impact of their work. The way the school has tackled the challenging topic of diet and worked with pupils, staff and families to make it work so well is extremely impressive.”

Louise Curren from Rowan Tree Primary said: “We didn’t expect this at allbut to be recognised with this award is amazing. We are dedicated to impacting the lives of our pupils and families. We are constantly striving to achieve this, and it won’t stop here!”

Tes editor and chief judge of the Tes Schools Awards Jon Severs said: “With these awards we honour the education community, who we’ve served for nearly 113 years. This year has seen some incredibly high-quality entries.

“These awards showcase just how vital our education professionals are to every facet of this country. Teachers, leaders and support staff all play such an important role in schools: this is our chance to say thank you for all that they do.”

To find out more, please visit: https://www.tes.com/en-gb/schools-awards

Frozen the Musical provided a spectacular opening to the Tes Schools Awards. Laura Emmitt performed Let it Go to the delight of the guests!

(New picture coming soon)