Primary Language Teacher Award 2009 winner announced

Sally Mitchell with David Laws MP and Geoff Swinn

Sally Mitchell of St Luke’s C of E Primary School in Bournemouth was awarded the Primary Language Teacher Award 2009 at a ceremony at the Houses of Parliament yesterday.

Now in its second year, the award was the first of its kind to celebrate the best of primary language teaching taking place in the UK. It is organised jointly by Scholastic Ltd and La Jolie Ronde – a leading provider of French and Spanish language learning and resources.

Inspiring learning

Sally teaches MFL to all seven- to 11-year olds at St Luke’s. Since joining St Luke’s five years ago, she has worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to bring MFL into the school timetable. The range of languages on offer is wide and varied, including Japanese, German, French and Spanish. Sally also runs a lunchtime French club, has been extremely active in supporting colleagues as well as other schools and has built up other staff members’ confidence in teaching MFL.

Sally’s headteacher, Mark Saxby, who nominated her for the award, said: ‘Languages at St Luke’s have come to life with staff and children looking forward to their lessons. This is because Sally loves her subject and is passionate about ensuring children get a positive experience when they begin to explore MFL.’

Geoff Swinn, Deputy CEO and Director of Education & Skills at The National Centre for Languages (CILT) and chair of the judging panel, commented: ‘Sally was a most deserved winner and we were very impressed with her, as we were with the high standards of all the entries. When Sally joined St Luke’s there was no language provision and she has led the school in language teacher best practice.’

The other judges on the panel included Michelle Guy (Editor of Junior Education PLUS magazine), Colette Hallam (founder of La Jolie Ronde), Peter Satchwell (Independent Languages Consultant) and Britta Giersche (German Managing Editor of Mary Glasgow Magazines).

High standards

Sally wins an all-expenses paid two-day trip to Northern France for up to 30 children and five teachers. She will also receive £1000 of La Jolie Ronde resources and £1000 of Scholastic books, plus a framed certificate and class set of La Petite Presse, a Scholastic MFL book and Scholastic magazine subscription.

Four finalists, including Sally, attended the awards ceremony, of which the judging panel were highly impressed by. The other three finalists included Gill Leicester from Dean Valley Community Primary School, Bollington, Cheshire; Helen Berry, Salisbury Road Primary School, St Judes, Plymouth, and Maria Martinez, Claycots School, Slough, Berkshire. Gill, Helen and Maria will each receive £500 of La Jolie Ronde resources and £200 of Scholastic books. They will also receive a framed certificate and class set of La Petite Presse, a Scholastic MFL book and magazine subscription.