I've always believed that if you have a clear idea of what you're
trying to achieve, and then work really hard to get there, then success will follow. As I've progressed in my career I've
realised that creativity is also vital in achieving success, helping to bring new insights to clear the fog that is preventing
progress.
I've tried my best to put the above into practice in all my work
and am really proud of what I've achieved. Others too have recognised my achievements and I've been given a number of awards
and accolades. This page summarises these, as well as giving details of some of the other milestones in my professional
life.
Education Resources Awards
I'm incredibly proud that I am the only UK education consultant whose
work has been shortlisted on three separate occasions for the prestigious Education Resources Awards. The awards are
the country's top accolade for those providing products and services to schools. In 2005 the Teachers' Pocketbooks series
won the Secondary Books cateogory of this award scheme, having also been shortlisted in 2004. I am the co-originator and series
consultant for these highly popular books, as well as having written six titles in the Teachers' Pocketbooks series. In 2007
my book The Creative Teaching & Learning Tooklit (written jointly with Will Thomas) was again shortlisted for
an award. You can find out more about all these books here.
Yorkshire Dales National Park Environment Award
This was awarded to my department for work that 'went well beyond the National Curriculum'. It
included real-life decision-making exercises as well as the writing of a special glossary of environmental terms for a book
published by WWF-UK. A special feature of the work was the full involvement of students, who hosted the judging panel and
explained how they had benefitted from the project.
Franco-British Council School Partnership Award
My department was the joint winner of this prestigious national award (together with the French
department in my school). This enabled an environmentally themed exchange visit to Britanny to be staged, with the participating
students also producing a bilingual book comparing the ecology and landscape of their two home regions. I travelled with my
students to the House of Commons to receive the award, which was presented by Professor David Bellamy.
Millennium Fellowship Award
I received this award for my pioneering work on environmental education. The award enabled an
innovative website to the produced for young people in Yorkshire, which encouraged them to learn about environmental issues
and play their part in making their local places even better for nature.
Passports to Change
This three year project was awarded a major grant by the Department for International Development.
I was the creative force behind the project and worked with Craven Development Education Centre to prepare the funding proposal.
A professionally printed full colour book was provided to all schools in the participating region, with the aim of raising
their awareness of global poverty and what can be done about it. The project was run in consultation with teachers from primary
and secondary schools, and included two project days for students where they had the chance to meet others and carry out collaborative
work.
