Working in education and training gives first-hand knowledge of how incredibly hard teachers work and the challenges they face.

Which is why four of the county’s major pedagogic organisations are lending their support to the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards 2018 – for which nominations are coming in thick and fast.

Canterbury Christ Church University, teacher recruitment agency Three R’s, training provider Social Enterprise Kent and charity CXK are all supporting different categories in the awards – for which anyone working in a school, whether paid or unpaid, can be nominated.

Despite the name, they’re not just for teachers but for volunteers, non-teaching staff and governors too – and you can nominate one person or a whole team.

"We are really excited,” said Leah Macdonald, primary education consultant with
Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, which is supporting the primary school teacher category.

“Every year the volume of quality entries gets harder and harder to judge.”

Overburdened with marking, lesson planning and ever-increasing admin, and ever wary of criticism from the government, the media and parents, teachers can easily feel under-appreciated and doubt whether they are doing a good job. One of the aims of the awards is to remind them that they are.

"Our support is aimed at boosting the confidence of NQTs in our schools in Kent and Medway,” explained Alison Cogger, from Canterbury Christ Church University, which is supporting the newly-qualified teacher category.

“We feel it's very important that NQTs are given the recognition they deserve so that they can continue to do the wonderful job that they do with our children."

Anyone can make a nomination - colleagues, parents or pupils – and you can nominate as many people as you like before the deadline of Thursday, March 1.

Winners from each Kent borough, plus Bexley and Bromley, will be chosen by the judges and invited to an awards dinner in May at the Mercure Great Danes Hotel in Maidstone. They will also appear in their local KM Group newspaper and on Kent Online.

The panel also includes judges from Kent County Council, Medway Council, the University of Kent, Kent Sport, the University of Greenwich, Medway Youth Trust, Beanstalk, Salus, LoopCR, Kreston Reeves, and Diggerland.

For more information or to nominate, visit www.kentteacheroftheyear.co.uk.