THIS year’s School of the Year award was hotly contested by two primary schools and a secondary school.

The shortlist included: Barkerend Primary Leadership Academy, in Hendford Drive, Beckfoot Upper Heaton, in Thorn Lane, and Shirley Manor Primary Academy, in Wyke.

The winner was Shirley Manor Primary and the announcement was met with huge cheers and celebration from a socially-distanced room full of staff members at the school.

Shirley Manor received a Good rating from Ofsted in its last inspection (June 2019), moving up from its Requires Improvement mark received in February 2017.

It was also commended for taking part in the nationwide education project, MITA (Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants).

The school was the only one in Bradford to put itself forward for the initiative and headteacher, Heather Lacey, says it has been "totally transformational".

She added: "It gives a voice to all members of staff within school, because with us, we're not hierarchical.

"We value everybody's point of view and everybody's voice.

"Because nobody wanted to do it in Bradford, we ended up going down to London and we were working with Rob Webster, who's got this massive project going on."

Dr Webster, who leads MITA, is an Associate Professor, based in the Centre for Inclusive Education at UCL (University College London) Institute of Education.

Shirley Manor also worked with a number of other parties down in the capital and Mrs Lacey said it was a "humbling" experience.

She added: "He (Dr Webster) enabled us to give everybody a voice, that we are a family and we are very strong at being a family, that everybody has a voice - from cleaners to caretakers, to kitchen staff, to up where we are as Senior Leaders.

"That's something that's really important, because only then are you able to move the school forward and be able to make a difference to absolutely everyone."

The project's focus on enhancing the impact of Teaching Assistants (TAs) inherently benefits the school's children and helps to make them more independent.

This is the ultimate goal for Shirley Manor.

Mrs Lacey said: "It's about the children at the end of the day.

"A lot of our children have tough lives, they have challenging lives and, for us, it's about making them see a future.

"By doing what we do, we're able to do that.

"I can't do that alone, that is my team, that is us as a whole."

In hindsight, partaking in the project and being a school that works as a family, has been crucial for getting through the torrid times of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mrs Lacey said: "We were devastated when coronavirus came, because we've had to close the school down.

"We've had to close the school down a couple of weeks ago, because we had two positive cases within school.

"So we got them back and we've had to close the two bubbles within the school down.

"But you know what, our staff are dedicated, they won't let go, they're phoning everyday, they're doing home learning, they are providing that support."

Their duties also included delivering meals everyday to homes.

Mrs Lacey said: "That to us, it's really important, because you know what, it's not just about their education, it's about home, it's about them as a whole.

"If they feel safe with us, if they trust us, and the behaviour for learning's there, then they'll learn and they can be anything they want to be.

"That's what's important for us."

Read our other in-depth interviews with each winner below:

Or take a look at how the overall event went here...