Nominations have closed for this year’s Medway School Workforce Awards.

Now the task of choosing the winners begins, including the KM People’s Choice award.

Six outstanding members of school staff have been shortlisted, all are devoted to their school no matter what their job.

The nominations are below and you can read all about them and cast your vote.

Last year’s winner was Pauline Warton, a receptionist at the Hundred of Hoo School, Hoo. The closing date to vote in the People’s Choice award is Wednesday, June 16. The awards will be presented on Thursday, June 24.

Call the school workforce development team on 01634 332261 for details.

To vote send your choice tommcompetition@thekmgroup.co.uk and put "people's choice" in the note field.

John Patey

Job Title: Caretaker

School: Fort Pitt Grammar, Chatham

Nomination: “From redecorating classrooms, to putting out exam desks, John does every job with pride and a smile. He is an absolute stalwart, endlessly cheerful, approachable and adaptable; he can be relied upon to carry through any task he has been asked to do, even including catching woodpeckers and squirrels. He is also a self-starter and will make suggestions on how to improve systems and the school environment. Nothing is ever too much trouble for him. His positive presence around our school makes life better for all of us. Even when we change our plans at the last minute, he doesn’t complain at our (sometimes) unreasonable demands – he just gets on with it and gets the job done. We do say thank you, but perhaps not as often as we should.”

Rebekah Greening

Job title: Inclusions officer

School: The Howard, Rainham

Nomination: “Rebekah Greening is the inclusions officer at The Howard School. With her team she works tirelessly in supporting students with additional educational needs. The success of her work can be seen in the impressive advances in reading and spelling ages and the value added at GCSE. Her genuine concern for students of all backgrounds and commitment to inclusion and support is impressive. She is a fine administrator and terrific manager who, on a daily basis, makes inclusion a reality for scores of students. She is most deserving of a Medway School Workforce Award.”

Alison Brightman

Job title: Home school support worker

School: Kingfisher Primary School and Children’s Centre, Chatham

Nomination: “Alison has made a huge impact on the pupils, parents and staff. She is someone who the parents and children feel they can talk to with their problems and concerns. Alison is available at all times of the day, she will stand at the gate in the mornings for parents to chat to; they are also encouraged to ring her during the day. She has helped families who are at the end of their tether. Alison has taken on a huge amount: she is the Child Protection lead, is a major part of the Friends association fundraising, plus Alison has organised and run clubs before and after school for the children and an autism support group. We are so lucky to have her and the children know that they can go to her whenever they need someone to talk to.”

Andrea Carter

Job title: Executive head teacher

School: Gordon Infant and Junior, Strood

Nomination: “Andrea Carter is an inspiration to us all. Calm, productive, focused, realistic, helpful and supportive – to name a few of the qualities she displays. As a head of a “good” school, moving towards “outstanding”, Andrea took on a school in special measures as well to ensure children, staff and parents received the support they so rightly deserved. A massive role by anyone’s standards but Andrea is a never-ending source of energy and positiveness, even the most challenging of days sees Andrea promoting confidence and belief in her staff. She thinks outside of the box to ensure her schools are successful in all they do and enjoyment is had by all.”

Sharon Davies

Job title: Receptionist

School: Glencoe Junior, Chatham

Nomination: “No job is too big or too small for Sharon and her enthusiastic and helpful nature has helped Glencoe to run smoothly. Sharon’s main quality is that she always has the children’s best interests at heart and will do what she can to seek and organise events to expand their experiences. She will look for opportunities to get the school involved in community activities. A huge amount of effort has come from Sharon to improve communications with parents from minority groups, which has been successful. She has contributed to the smooth running of the school office during the long term absence of a colleague, taking on extra responsibilities with no fuss.”

Adrienne Boardman

Job title: Family liaison officer

School: Robert Napier, Gillingham

Nomination: “Since Adrienne began work at the school she has always demonstrated complete commitment to the support and development of students in the school. She has worked extremely hard, sometimes altering her methods of work as the job has changed, to make sure she can support all students attending the school. Through her efforts the school’s attendance figures have improved, and more vulnerable children have begun to attend more regularly. But more importantly children at the school know they can go to Ade with a problem and she will do her utmost to solve it for them. Ade is never phased by problems – whether a bureaucratic issue, a falling out between students, or an angry individual.”