Award-winning Staff Attend Tea At House Of Commons
Staff at Weston College who were awarded Silver in the 2018 Pearson Teaching Awards were invited to the House of Commons for Tea to celebrate their achievements.
Lecturer Charmaine Hale-Lynch, who teaches Travel and Tourism at the College, along with Mandy Lee, Student Welfare & Pastoral Support Services Manager, and Ben Cocks, Assistant Director, all attended the event in the House of Commons.
Charmaine and the Welfare and Pastoral Services Team were selected from thousands of nominations nationwide back in June, and were two of just 65 winners in the 2018 Pearson Teaching Awards.
They were invited to an exclusive, one in a lifetime opportunity to have tea at the House of Commons ahead of a glittering ceremony broadcast live on the BBC later this year, where just 12 winners (one from each category) will be selected to win the prestigious Gold Plato.
The Pearson teaching awards are run annually, and schools and FE colleges are invited to nominate members of staff and teams within their organisation who they think are worthy of recognition for the fantastic work they do daily. There is then an in-depth selection process, involving judging visits to the schools, to identify ground-breaking teachers and teams.
Ben Cocks, Assistant Director at Weston College, said: “Seeing both Charmaine and the Welfare and Pastoral Support Services win a Silver Teaching Award, and being part of that, has been an amazing experience and given me a real sense of pride and delight.
“I have seen first-hand how hard the staff within the department work. What they do is truly inspirational and for them as individuals and as a team, winning the award has given them the recognition they not only deserve, but also the confidence and reassurance that what they do to support our learners and the wider community is valued, having a real impact and changing lives.
“It is our learners who inspire the staff and make it worthwhile and this award is to them as much as it is to the staff.”
