More than 50 inspirational teachers, education professionals, support staff, and volunteers were honoured at the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards 2018 on Friday (May 18).

The event, organised annually by the KM Charity Team, celebrates excellence and achievement in teaching, with a record-breaking 1,200 nominations received by parents, pupils, and school staff this year.

The awards were co-hosted by Simon Dolby, chief executive of the KM Charity Team, and Nicola Everett, news editor for kmfm. Special guests included KCC cabinet member for education Roger Gough, and celebrated children’s author and literacy ambassador for the KM Charity Team, Nick Butterworth.

Fifty-four staff and teams representing 49 schools and colleges were named as district winners with 23 crowned best in Kent.

Champions included Steve Davies of the Sheerness West Federation, who was awarded Kent Executive Head Teacher of the Year, and Kim Howes from the Maidstone campus of Mid Kent College who received the Kent Higher Education Teacher of the Year Award.

Winners were decided by a panel of judges featuring representatives from Kent County Council, Medway Council, The University of Kent, Kent Sport, Canterbury Christ Church University, the University of Greenwich,Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, MY Trust, Social Enterprise Kent, Beanstalk, CXK, Salus, LoopCR, Kreston Reeves, KidZania, and Kent Further Education.

Mr Dolby said: “Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination telling us all about the standout individuals working in Kent schools and colleges today.

“You have done a great service to many hard-working, talented, yet extremely humble people, who are shaping the hearts and minds of future generations. These individuals are thrilled that their efforts are appreciated – whether they were one of the 54 winners, or one of the hundreds of recipients of highly commended letters.”

The event aimed to spread best practice to all education professionals in the county and to this end a booklet has been published and circulated giving details of each award win.

The awards dinner took place at the Mercure Maidstone Great Danes hotel with support from Blessing by Blé, Hornby, Independent Music Productions, and the KM Group. Teaching champs continued the celebrations into the night at a disco provided by The Boombox UK.

Organisations interested in getting involved with the 2019 awards should contact Mr Dolby at sdolby@thekmgroup.co.uk or by calling 07989 164 752.

The KM Charity Team provide a range of services for schools including the walk to school scheme Super Wow (Walk on Wednesday). Schools have until July 1 to sign up for Super Wow for next academic year and receive a 20% discount and entry into a prize draw to win 400 books for the school library. Visit www.kmcharityteam.co.uk/wow

For the full list of district winners and overall champions, visit the KM Charity Team's website HERE.