SERC Science Team Attend Pearson Teaching Awards UK Ceremony

On Sunday 20th October inspirational teachers from across the UK will be honoured at the 2019 Pearson National Teaching Awards UK Ceremony.   Thirteen Gold Award winners will be announced at the ceremony, which marks its 21st year of celebrating excellence in education.  

Eleven (11) members of the Science Team here at SERC will be travelling to London as shortlist for a Gold Award, having been presented with a prestigious Silver Teaching Award earlier this year.  

Ken Webb, Principal and Chief Executive of SERC said, “Ken Webb, Principal and Chief Executive at SERC said, “We were delighted that our Science Team at SERC were recognised with a prestigious Silver Award in the FE Team of the Year category and join a shortlist of 13 for the Gold Award.

“The team boasts specialists in Biology, Chemistry and Physics with expertise in Microbiology, Biochemistry, Conservation and Chemical Analysis. Their vast industrial experience and passion for science enables them to design real-life, industry-related projects for students studying from Level 2 Applied Science through to HND in Applied Biology, giving them a clear advantage within industry.  

“In addition, students, under their tutelage, have enjoyed great success in the BT Young Scientist Competition with four projects from SERC being selected for entry this year, one of which came first. It also won Best Northern Ireland Project and the SERC Science team was awarded best Northern Ireland School for Science and one of the students was Highly Commended. The team have built relationships with both local universities to ensure our students have access to specialist laboratories and equipment to reach the standards demanded for competition.  

“Working beyond the demands of the curriculum they have developed connections with the community to promote engagement in STEM subjects.  They are active participants in the Northern Ireland Science Festival offering workshops across all campuses and have developed a partnership with Forth Valley College in Scotland to develop a Science Box for primary schools to deliver fun and interesting science activities.  

He concluded, “We hope they enjoy the Awards ceremony on Sunday 20 October and wish them every success as they represent the very best of teaching in the country and we are very proud that they are part of the SERC team.”  

The ceremony will take place at the Roundhouse in Camden, and will be broadcast on BBC2 on Saturday 26 October as “Britain’s Classroom Heroes”, starring hosts Sean Fletcher, a regular sports presenter on Good Morning Britain and Countryfile presenter, and Tina Daheley, well known as a newsreader on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show and a regular presenter on Newsbeat.