Bradford Telegraph and Argus:

Category sponsor: Craven College

Gaynor Bainbridge - Southfield School

GAYNOR Bainbridge, a teacher at Southfield School, was nominated for Secondary Teacher of the Year for her important role in making the transition from primary school to secondary school easier for pupils.
Mrs Bainbridge is lead teacher for foundation and transition at the special school, and was nominated by the school.
The nomination praised her work with pupils and said: “Gaynor has built relationships with a network of teaching professionals in primary and secondary special schools around the city. 
“This has resulted in strong partnership work, especially with Southfield’s feeder primary schools, who are confident in our processes and support the transition by working closely with the transition team and handing over detailed information about individual students’ needs. 
“Incoming Year 6 students are visited by Gaynor and other key staff to build familiarity before they first visit our campus on their transition days.
“Understanding the importance of the step up and how challenging it can be for our students, the transition days are carefully planned to give the students the best experience possible when they first visit Southfield.”

Lisa Porritt - Ilkley Grammar School

LISA Porritt is nominated for the Secondary Teacher of the Year award after being credited for drastically improving results in Biology at Ilkley Grammar School.
She has taught in the Bradford district for 20 years, and at Ilkley Grammar for almost four.
Deputy head Carly Purnell nominated Mrs Porritt, saying: “Her passion for biology, her superb work ethic, alongside stimulating and innovative lesson design, excites and engages her students and accelerates their learning.
“Biology results have improved dramatically since Lisa arrived at the school in 2014 and are now in the top 10% of all schools nationally. In addition, for the second consecutive year, biology A-level results are the strongest in the school with a value added score of +.81 with over half of all grades at A/A* and 82% at A*-B. Whilst other biology teachers undoubtedly contributed to this success, Lisa was the only teacher who taught all three A-level groups.
“Over the past two years there has been some instability within the biology team and this has left Ilkley Grammar School short of biology specialists. Lisa is the first to say she will take on additional classes to ensure that students in examination years do not suffer.”

Linda Puddy - Bingley Grammar School

LINDA Puddy, a food technology teacher at Bingley Grammar School, was nominated for this award by the school’s head Luke Weston.
Described as the “mother” of Bingley Grammar, Mrs Puddy is teaching at the school for a second run, after a short-lived retirement in 2012.
The nomination says former students regularly return to the school to see her.
She also inspires primary pupils – local primaries bring their Year 5 students to Bingley Grammar one morning a week for six weeks. They learn basic cooking and kitchen hygiene/safety rules from Mrs Puddy. 
This helps the transition from primary to upper school and makes primary school children look forward to joining the school.
She also teaches students in the Behaviour Support Unit as well as “survival cooking courses” for sixth-form pupils.
Mr Weston said: “Linda came to us in 2000 when the middle schools and Bradford went from a three-tier to a two-tier system of education. She taught at one of our feeder schools, Stoney Lee Middle, now Cottingley Village Primary School. Linda gained her Certificate of Education in 1971 and has been passing on her knowledge and passion for her subject ever since.”