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Jo Shuter, left, displays her Headteacher of the Year award alongside the X Factor’s Kate Thornton |
Quintin Kynaston’s Jo Shuter named headteacher of the year
‘It is crucial work which deserves recognition at the very highest level’ – Ed Balls
JO Shuter was crowned Headteacher of the Year in a prestigious award ceremony in the West End on Sunday.
The headteacher of Quintin Kynaston was recognised in the National Teaching Awards for transforming the fortunes of pupils at the Swiss Cottage community school.
Ms Shuter received gleaming Plato – the Oscar of the Teaching world – in front of a 2,000 capacity audience in the London Palladium at the ceremony broadcast on BBC at 6pm.
She said: “When I arrived at Quintin Kynaston there were no computers, no working phone system, it looked like a prison.
“For me transforming education for kids is about transforming the environment.”
Quintin Kynaston has, since Ms Shuter took over in 2001, gone from strength to strength.
The judges said the school had “flourished” in the five years she had been head, and school inspectors had noted its good racial relationships, the harmony between teachers and students, the above-average attendance and the rising GCSE results.
Her pioneering, at times controversial, methods include an on-site youth club, a squad of playground pupil surveillance and facilities for a number of vocational courses, including a salon for hair-dressing.
Tony Blair gave his resignation speech in the school’s playground last year.
It was named in June among the top 1 per cent of schools in the country for Value Added Scores – rating each school on how pupils improve on their anticipated results – and this year recorded its best ever GCSE results.
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, who presented the award, said: “It is crucial work which deserves recognition at the very highest level.”
She will be taken on a special jet flight with the Red Arrows courtesy of the RAF, who sponsor the Teaching Awards.
Cllr Sarah Richardson, Westminster council’s schools’ chief, said: “Westminster is very lucky to have such a gifted head teacher as Jo working in its schools and I am delighted her hard work and talent has been recognised with this award.”
Ms Shuter became acting head at Pimlico School after it was put on special measures in January.
For the last academic year she split her time between Pimlico and QK.
After Westminster council moved to transform the school into the academy system the award-winning teacher said she would no longer split her time between Pimlico and QK.
She will leave Pimlico in July 2008. |
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