Lord Adonis receives Teach First’s “Founding Ambassador” accolade

Educational charity Teach First will this Wednesday (17th June 2009) award Secretary of State for Transport Lord Andrew Adonis ‘Founding Ambassador’ status.

This Award is granted to those individuals who have been instrumental in the progress and development of Teach First to date, and is given to Lord Adonis in recognition of his imagination and dedication in supporting the charity, throughout his time as an education policy advisor at Number 10 and latterly as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools and Learners.

At the Department of Children, Schools and Families, Lord Adonis’s collaboration with Teach First was instrumental in securing Government backing for Teach First’s vision to expand to 5 regions across the UK, and to increase support for Teach First Ambassadors (alumni), enabling them to address educational disadvantage from leadership positions in all fields.

Other Founding Ambassadors include Rona Kiley, former Head of Business and Education at business lobby group London First, and Dame Mary Richardson, former Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Education Trust. Stephen O’Brien CBE, Former Chair of Teach First who retires from the Teach First’s Board of Trustees this year, will also be named a Founding Ambassador at the Celebration.

Teach First’s Annual Awards Celebration, hosted by the Institution for Engineering and Technology, recognises the achievements of Teach First participants and Ambassadors as they pursue the Teach First mission to address educational disadvantage through excellent teaching and leadership.

Lord Adonis said:

“Teach First is a groundbreaking charity whose work I have been delighted to support from the start. Teachers trained through Teach First have been proven to make a real difference in the classroom, and as they grow in size they will also grow in impact. I hope becoming a Founding Ambassador will mark a deepening of my relationship with Teach First and all its participants and Ambassadors.”

Brett Wigdortz, CEO and Founder of Teach First, said:

“Lord Adonis’s support has been integral in helping Teach First’s participants and Ambassadors to increase the access, aspirations and achievement of pupils studying in the UK’s most challenging schools. Education policy is constantly evolving – over the last seven years he has helped us both to navigate and to shape those changes.

”All the Awards recipients this evening have done something special to address educational disadvantage. Teach First believes passionately that wealth should no longer be a key factor in determining a child’s achievement, and we are delighted to have supporters from across business, education and political sectors who share in that belief.”

The 2009 Winners

• Learmonth School Project Award
  Awarded to a participant who has devised a school project which will implement innovative, entrepreneurial ideas to benefit pupil learning in their school.
  
  Eleanor Taylor, Rosedale College, Hillingdon, for Lifting Literacy Project
  ‘Lifting Literacy’ raised levels of achievement in Key Stage 3 through engaging and training fellow staff members, establishing a volunteer group of parents and training and employing sixth formers to work with a targeted group of year 9 students on the 'Successmaker' programme for 15 minutes two mornings a week.
  
  
• Teach First Excellence Award
  Awarded to a participant teaching History, English, Geography, Music, Art, Business Studies, MFL, Citizenship or RE who can demonstrate that they have motivated and inspired pupils in their subject, turning pupil inspiration and motivation into tangible results.
  
  Thomas Ravenscroft, Cardinal Pole RC Secondary School, London, for Business Studies teaching
  
  
• Teach First Garnett Award
  Awarded to a participant teaching Science, Maths, ICT or D&T who can demonstrate that they have motivated and inspired pupils in their subject, turning pupil inspiration and motivation into tangible results.
  
  Madiha Lodhi and Beth Haley, Pensnett High School, Dudley, for Science teaching
  
  
• Higher Education Access Programme for Schools (HEAPS) Award
  Nominated and voted by sixth form students, this Award is for the HEAPS Mentor who has shown exceptional commitment and performance in mentoring young people to access higher education
  
  Steve Costello, ’03 Ambassador
  
  
• Teach First Ambassador Awards
  Awarded to Teach First Ambassadors – working inside and outside the classroom - who can demonstrate the measurable impact they have made, or are making, in relation to addressing educational disadvantage in some way.
  
  James Bown, ’06 Ambassador, Stockley Academy, Stockley, for Geography teaching
  
  Jamie Fielden, ’03 Ambassador, for Jamie’s Farm, Avon www.jamiesfarm.org.uk
  
  
• Mentor Award
  Awarded to a school staff member who has provided formal or informal mentoring to participants in schools, this award recognises the importance of school staff in training and developing Teach First participants.
  
  Amanda Woodfin, Gladys Aylwood School, Enfield
  
  
• Founding Ambassador Awards
  Awarded to two high profile, outstanding individuals who have been instrumental in the progress and development of Teach First to date.
  
  Stephen O’Brien CBE, Teach First Trustee
  
  Lord Andrew Adonis, Secretary of State for Transport

For press and all other inquiries please contact Natalie Whitty, Senior Officer for Corporate Communications and PR, nwhitty@teachfirst.org.uk, 020 7517 4821, 07737 989672

Notes to Editors

The Institution of Engineering and Technology

1. Teach First’s Annual Awards Celebration will take place at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) on the evening of Wednesday 17th June.
2. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a world leading professional organisation, sharing and advancing knowledge to promote science, engineering and technology across the world. For more information, visit www.theiet.org.
3. Graham Paterson, Chief of Staff, Institution of Engineering and Technology, said: "The IET is delighted to be part of Teach First and in particular the STEM support programme. Teach First aims to tackle educational disadvantage in schools across the UK. There are many engineers and technicians who started from challenging backgrounds and it is for this reason that the IET continues to reach out to all UK schools through our activities, including the Faraday programme.”
   
4. The IET Faraday is a schools resource from The Institution of Engineering and Technology. It aims to inspire students and help those who are trying to reach them, by producing interesting, interactive activities and events demonstrating the application of science, design and technology, engineering and maths.
   
   Teach First
   
   
5. The evening is compered by Teach First’s Celebrity Ambassador, Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel-Horwood, and Jerry Springer: The Opera star Alison Jiear.
6. Teach First is an independent charity, Reg. No. 1098294, established in 2002. It is supported by all the main political parties, teaching unions, graduate organisations and over fifty leading employers, including Procter & Gamble, Permira, Citi, Deloitte and Accenture.
   
7. Teach First is the Charity Awards Education and Training Charity of the Year 2009. In 2008, Teach First gained 9th place on the coveted league of Times High Fliers Top 100 Graduate Employers.
8. Teach First’s mission is to address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields. Teach First targets high calibre students who would not normally consider a career in teaching and places them in challenging schools – where more than a third of pupils are eligible for free school meals – for the course of the two year placement.
9. Teach First recruits, trains and supports teachers and long-term leaders. Participants complete a workplace based teacher training and leadership development programme over two years.