Celebrating Lionheart colleagues at the Heart Awards 2024

The evening saw the presentation of this year’s Heart Awards, as we acknowledged the outstanding work staff members have undertaken during 2023-24, going above and beyond to embody our employee values – the three Ps; positive, professional and pupil-centred. 

From nomination forms submitted across the year by colleagues wanting to celebrate the work of their peers, by May, 314 employees – both individuals and teams – had been nominated. 

At Athena, with Dermot O’Leary unable to pry himself away from the This Morning sofa, we instead welcome compere Ollie Rowe – Head of English at The Cedars Academy – to guide us through proceedings! 

Then it was time to crown our winners… 

 

Positive: 

Winners: 

• Andy Green (Riverside Primary School) – Year 2 Phase Lead and PE Teacher 

• Heather Smith (The Castle Rock School) – Cover Manager 

 

Finalists: 

• Hongyu White (Beauchamp College) – Mandarin Teacher 

• Malika Taylor (The Cedars Academy) – Careers Co-ordinator 

• Nigel Jarvis (The Cedars Academy) – Design Technician 

• Rebecca Illston (Beauchamp City Sixth Form) – Careers and Personal Development Lead, Head of Sociology 

• Rob Smith (Martin High School) – Assistant Head of Maths 

 

 

Professional: 

Winners: 

• Bina Varia (Humphrey Perkins School) – Head of English 

• Rita D’Silva Griffiths (Lionheart) – Events Manager 

 

Finalists: 

• Kathleen Sedgley (The Cedars Academy) – Assistant Principal 

• Analisia Key (The Castle Rock School) – Head of Science 

• Beth Lockton (Humphrey Perkins School) – Head of Creative 

• Chloe Holmes (Brocks Hill Primary School) – Year 2 Teacher and Wellbeing Ambassador 

• Jess Smith (Martin High School) – Administration Assistant 

• Johnathan Taylor (The Newbridge School) – Maths Teacher 

• Leanne Taylor (Judgemeadow Community College) – Head of PE 

• Tracey Stanton (The Castle Rock School) – SEN Instructor 

 

 

Pupil-Centred: 

Winners: 

• Chris Goodchild (Beauchamp College) – Science Teacher 

• Tracey Harrison (The Cedars Academy / Endeavour) – Learning Support Assistant 

 

Finalists: 

• Andrea Ives (Hallam Fields Primary School) – Office Manager 

• Elise Eldredge (Sir Jonathan North Girls’ College) – Teacher of Design Technology 

• Lizzie Hussey (Humphrey Perkins School) – Teacher of Music 

• Lee Holmes (Humphrey Perkins School) – Head of Year 7 

• Claire Hartshorn (Riverside Primary School) - Learning Support Assistant 

 

 

Team: 

Winners: 

• EYFS Support Team (Broom Leys Primary School) 

• Science Technicians Team (Judgemeadow Community College) 

 

Finalists: 

• Premises Team (Beauchamp College) 

• Administration Team (Brocks Hill Primary School) 

• Senior Leadership Team (The Castle Rock School) 

• ECT Team (Highcliffe Primary School) 

 

A huge congratulations to all those who were shortlisted and to the very worthy winners. 

Thank you also to our independent judging panel who spent time reading through the nomination forms and selecting the winners. They were, Byron Chatburn (Director of Sea-band Ltd and Chair of Lionheart Trustees), Chris Swan (Governance Advisor and former teacher) Roy Pett (Managing Director of Surveyors to Education) and Daniel Dawkins (Managing Director of Aspire People). 

Roll on next year!