Nord Anglia University Professional Development Awards

Nord Anglia University Professional Development Awards Regents staff are awarded 3 out of 6 prestigious awards. For the second year running, our school has taken the limelight at the Regional Nord Anglia University Professional Development Awards, a showcase of the most committed professionals and their outstanding work in professional development, improving practice and innovation from across all Nord Anglia Education schools.

All staff at our school are committed to their professional development and these awards go towards recognising that dedication and drive to continually improve both themselves and the school. We are exceptionally proud that 3 of the 6 awards available to well over 1,000 professionals across the region have been awarded to our staff and here are some highlights of why they have won:

Tim Eaton, Director of Marketing and Admissions

Tim won the Nord Anglia University Leadership Award: At any level, in any part of the company, for people showing effective leadership of other professionals in line with Nord Anglia Education values.

It is often difficult to quantify the impact of individuals, though increased student numbers is an obvious indicator of success for Tim. What Tim does is work with people extremely effectively. He is not a ‘bolt-on’ leader; he gets involved in operational and strategic discussions at every level. One example is the development of the RISE programme at Regents which was born out of discussions between Tim and the Secondary SMT.

Lucy Lewis, Head of Primary Music

Lucy won the award for Innovation as a result of Professional Enquiry: people who can demonstrate the impact of their research on the organisation.

Lucy was the dynamic and energetic driving force behind the development of our very successful Instrumental Programme based on her knowledge of the benefits gained by children when they learn a musical instrument. Over 200 children in our Primary school now take instrumental lessons over the course of the week in piano, brass, woodwind, violin, drums and voice.

We have now become the only centre for ABRSM exams in our region based on the number of instrumental students in our school. Students from neighbouring schools come to Regents to take their exams. All piano students who took exams at the end of last academic year passed with one of our Primary students gaining the highest score in the region.

Laura Butler, Secondary English Teacher and HPL Champion

Laura won the award for Innovation in High Performance Learning: for an individual or school who has made a substantial contribution to the development and implementation of High Performance Learning in their school.

Laura volunteered to lead a whole-school focus group which had the challenging task of producing a proposal for embedding and embracing HPL across the school. She led 10 colleagues through a 2-term process, with over 16 meetings. The final document is fantastic and was presented to the SLT at the end of last academic year. The document is extremely well-considered and avoids the superficial approach to philosophy which so often occurs in schools. It sets out a 3-year time-frame and addresses everything from changing mind-set to vertical curriculum to classroom practice.

A few quotes from the leadership team on their reaction to the news of these awards:

“This reflects the importance our school places on staff development connected with world class teaching standards” Iain Blaikie, Principal

“I am very pleased that these three staff members have been recognised for the effort, perseverance and hard work they have displayed in three very different sections of our school”  Nonie Adams, Head of the Primary School

“This is a reflection of our school as a global leader in education and our relentless drive towards improvement” Garry Russell, Head of the Secondary School