Before we all enjoy a well deserved rest over the festive period, we wanted to say thank you from the team at The Teaching Awards Trust, and reflect on what has been a really special 25th anniversary year. Despite all the challenges facing the sector, there are so many reasons to be cheerful and we wanted to remind you of a few of those by sharing moments from our fantastic year of celebration and recognition of the huge impact made by all those who work in education to support and improve young people’s lives.
The Pearson National Teaching Awards received a record number of entries, Bronze, Silver and Gold winners. Throughout the year, we hosted celebratory events for these amazing winners. We love meeting them in person, to learn about their passion for their work, and to celebrate them. From our Silver Winners Tea to the UK Ceremony, you can relive the highlights here. If you’d like to enter a colleague for the 2024 awards then you can find all the information here. A special thank you goes to our founder, Lord David Puttnam, and Baroness Estelle Morris, recipient of the 2023 David Puttnam Lifetime Contribution to Education award, who joined us for our celebrations, both of whom have made a huge impact on the sector, and we are truly blessed to have your support.
Lord Puttnam also hosted our 25th Anniversary reception at No.10, creating another joyful occasion that brought together old friends, ambassadors, trustees, and supporters. With thanks also to Secretary of State Gillian Keegan for co-hosting this memorable event. We marked 25 years of the Teaching Awards Trust by reconnecting with past winners, our Teaching Awards Ambassadors, at the Festival of Education, as captured in this Talking Heads film. Staying in touch with every award winner from the past 25 years is so important to us, so if you’re part of this special alumni and reading this, please do get in touch.
Alongside the awards, we celebrated our most successful National Thank a Teacher Day ever with over 72,000 thank you messages sent on 21st June 2023 and almost 50 million press reach thanks to celebrity support including Guardians of the Galaxy Star Will Poulter, Dame Helen Mirren, Bobby Seagull and our President Sir Michael Morpurgo. National Thank a Teacher Day is about thanking, acknowledging and celebrating ALL those who work in education, from support staff through to head teachers, and we are delighted that it continues to grow as an annual fixture on the calendar across the UK. As a reminder of what this day is all about you can watch this film and if you want to get more involved with our Thank a Teacher campaign, do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. Please save the date for National Thank a Teacher Day 2024 on 19th June by registering your interest here. 
We want to thank all the sponsors who have supported our work this year, of course Pearson as our headline sponsor – we love working with you and truly value your support, along with the Department for Education who champion and support both the Pearson National Teaching Awards and the Thank a Teacher campaign, the Welsh Government and the team at Education Scotland. And, of course our wonderful colleagues at Hays Education, Nord Anglia Education, Pixl, Randstad and Logitech.
Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to all our campaign partners, with special thanks to BBC’s The One Show for your invaluable support and coverage. We truly appreciate your shared passion for highlighting our winners’ stories showcasing the incredible work in education. Although making a film for every school, college, and early years setting across the UK might be impossible, we thank you for helping us spotlight some of the remarkable work happening. A huge thank you also to the BBC Children’s and Education team for your invaluable support of the National Thank a Teacher campaign. We deeply value your collaboration and look forward to working with you again in 2024.
We are hugely grateful to all our supporters for spreading our messaging and promoting our campaigns. If you’re not listed but would like to support the Teaching Awards Trust, please reach out. Finally, a huge thanks to our judges, trustees, and the wider Teaching Awards team, we couldn’t do any of this without you. Special recognition goes to all our trustees, and we look forward to continued collaboration and success in the coming year.
As a small charity we really rely on all of your support to continue to champion and celebrate the impact of all those who work in education, so thank you, and here’s to a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic 2024!
Seasons Greetings
The team at the Teaching Awards Trust
