Organisers of the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards are counting on nominations from the public to find Kent and Medway’s number one maths teacher.

The annual event relies on votes from parents, pupils and school staff submitted at www.kentteacheroftheyear.co.uk to discover and reward the shining stars of the classroom. Individuals can place one nomination or more at the website until the deadline of March 1.

Prof Martin Ridout of the University of Kent’s School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science is backing the Maths Teacher of the Year Award.

He said: “We know through our outreach activities in schools that there are lots of teachers doing good jobs in maths. It’s important to teach good maths skills but also we hope to support people who are doing inspirational teaching.

“Most of us in the maths department had inspirational teachers when we were studying maths at school and that’s what we’d like to recognise.”

Simon Dolby, chief executive of the KM Charity Team, which is organising the event, said: “Maths is a key life skill that will open a lot of doors for children throughout their education and beyond. Those extra special teachers who are finding new and fun ways to help children to get a head for figures are truly life changing.”

Organisations backing the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards include Social Enterprise Kent, Kent Sport and Physical Activity Service, SELT, Project Salus, Medway Council, Kent County Council, CXK, Kreston Reeves, Loop CR Ltd, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Canterbury Christ Church University, Leeds Castle, Marlowe Theatre and the following departments at the University of Kent: Politics and International Relations; Physical Sciences; Biosciences; European Culture and Languages; and History.

Now in its 13th year, the awards recognise and reward not only teachers but also the support staff, volunteers and teams contributing towards their schools’ success. The winners will be commended at a prestigious awards dinner at Leeds Castle this May.

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