Last week I happened to be in London for some other things and then just by chance turned up at the #TESSAS and pick up an award which I was shocked about as was Rob Brydon who was presenting. He even said I am sorry but Dan can’t be here today… as I got on stage I said I am Dan Roberts and Rob said but you are in the Seychelles and I said no I am here ha ha! It was also lovely to meet Kerri Facer and spend time with staff and students from Saltash.net who were also up for an award.
If you are a regular reader of the blog or you have ever met me face to face then you will know that I am always shocked and never feel I really deserve these awards when I win them, it is also not the reason why I do what I do. My students are the ones who have taught me that I should be proud of these achievements and they wouldn’t have happened without the support of students, staff in the schools I have worked in and basically people all over the world who I collaborate with all of the time (This is those of you who read this blog). I would like to thank you all, this award is also for you!
The rest of this post is copied from what was written by the TES about me, thank you to them for such an amazing write up, you are very kind.
Dan Roberts of Saltash.net Community School, Saltash, Cornwall has won the ICT Visionary in Education Award at last Friday’s annual TES Schools Awards.
“Dan Roberts deserves the title of ‘visionary’ for being consistently innovative in educational ICT over a long period of time,” said the awards judges. “He is no one-trick pony (or even a one-trick chicken), but a bold scavenger who explores all sorts of different technologies and discovers new approaches for other teachers around the world.”
The former science teacher and assistant head at Saltash.net Community School is known to many who read his blog as “The Chicken Man”. One example of his work is the Recharge the Battery science project, which began when pupils wanted to rescue battery chickens from a local intensive farm to live a free-range life at the school. This scheme became the basis for a unique curriculum involving the innovative use of technology such as webcams, which has since been disseminated around the globe by Microsoft.
His recognition was witnessed by over 800 people gathered to celebrate the sector’s achievements at the awards ceremony held at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane on Friday 6 July.
16 awards were given out in total; winners came from schools across the UK, from Cornwall to the Isle of Skye, and from Vale of Glamorgan to East Ham. “The awards are now in their fourth year and the quality of entries is higher than ever, with a greater range of schools taking part from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland,” said Gerard Kelly, TES editor.
The TES Schools Awards (or TESSAs as they are affectionately known) were launched in 2009 by the Times Educational Supplement (the teacher’s paper) to recognise and reward the professionalism and flare of those teams making an outstanding contribution to primary and secondary schools in the maintained and independent sectors.
For more coverage of the awards, photos and all the winners across the 16 categories, visit www.tesawards.co.uk or pick up a copy of TES available from 13 July.