My colleague Peter Harris, headteacher at Farsley Farfield Primary School sent me this post about the Teaching Awards...

"Chris, Leeds did have a couple of regional teaching award winners and other shortlisted regional finalists last year. As a recipient of an award last year I can confirm that it is a fantastic experience. I knew nothing of my nomination and I was embarrassed at first. It was a considerable amount of work for the person nominating and I imagine that they would have been very disappointed had I not been shortlisted. When we asked parents for support for the nomination it was wonderful to read their positive comments about my work and, most importantly, the impact of the school as a whole. The teaching award is now a source of pride for me and for the school - it is displayed prominently in our foyer!As a head teacher I find it hard to nominate for fear of that accusation of favouritism. Perhaps the publicity for the award should be directed more at other staff, directly to governors and to parents?Having been a bit of a sceptic previously, I can now recommend involvement in the awards as a really positive experience. Peter."

Perhaps if more of us nominated some of our brilliant colleagues, as a matter of course and simply to recognise great people, it would become less of an issue. The challenge for every school is not shall I nominate someone but who should I nominate?
Chris