A charity dedicated to leadership development in schools is trumpeting the county’s top head teachers for the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards 2015.

The Southern Educational Leadership Trust (SELT) is backing the Head Teacher of the Year award to celebrate excellence in headship and reward head teachers who are improving their schools to support pupil achievement.

Nicola Podd, programme lead at the charity, said: “The award recognises those people who go above and beyond their required job role to ensure that young people today get the best possible experience in school to maximise their potential in life.”

She added that teachers are nominated by their peers and the parents and children of the families they serve, giving local people “a voice in recognising the high quality of their education provided by their schools.”

A number of other organisations have announced their support of the awards including, CXK, Kent Sport, Brachers Law, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Social Enterprise Kent, Project Salus, William Giles Chartered Accountants, Kent County Council, Medway Council, Christ Church University, Marlowe Theatre, Leeds Castle, and the following departments at the University of Kent: Politics and International Relations; Psychology; Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Sciences; Physical Sciences; Biosciences; European Culture and Languages; and History.

Simon Dolby of the KM Charity Team, which is organising the awards, said: “Teachers cannot nominate themselves but they can put forward their co-workers for an award.

“Members of the public are also being encouraged to submit nominations and the categories include primary, secondary, newly qualified teacher, teaching assistant, non teaching member of staff, and volunteer.”

The 2015 Kent Teacher of the Year Awards will be staged at Leeds Castle on May 19 when around 50 school representatives will be honoured.

To nominate before the March 2 deadline, visit www.kentteacheroftheyear.co.uk.