South Eastern Regional College Honoured in National Celebration of Teaching

South Eastern Regional College’s (SERC) Science Team have won a prestigious Pearson Silver Teaching Award celebrating outstanding achievement in teaching.

The Science Team is one of just 68 Silver Award winners selected from thousands of nominations from across the country who will be celebrated today as the Pearson National Teaching Awards marks its 21st year of celebrating excellence in education through an annual celebration of exceptional teachers, founded in 1998 by Lord Puttnam to recognise the life-changing impact an inspirational teacher can have on the lives of the young people they teach.

Ken Webb, Principal and Chief Executive at SERC said, “We are delighted that our Science Team at SERC have been recognised with the 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, “I congratulate them on this Award; testament to their goal to devise a science curriculum that motivates students to succeed and progress to further study or employment.”

The Science Team at SERC has been shortlisted to win one of just 13 Gold Awards at the UK’s “Oscars for Teachers”. They will join fellow Silver Award winners, along with three Scottish Education Award winners and three winners of the Professional Teaching Awards Cymru, at the 21st UK ceremony of the Pearson Teaching Awards. It is a glittering event held at the Roundhouse on 20 October. It is broadcast on BBC2 the following week, on 27 October, as “Britain’s Classroom Heroes” as a showcase of excellence in education.