Primary school teacher honoured at prestigious education awards

A teacher at Duneane Primary School has been honoured at a prestigious education awards event.
Kerrie Wilson of Duneane Primary School, Toomebridge receives the ENTHUSE Award for Excellence in STEM Teaching for Primary School teachers from Chris Little, MLAKerrie Wilson of Duneane Primary School, Toomebridge receives the ENTHUSE Award for Excellence in STEM Teaching for Primary School teachers from Chris Little, MLA
Kerrie Wilson of Duneane Primary School, Toomebridge receives the ENTHUSE Award for Excellence in STEM Teaching for Primary School teachers from Chris Little, MLA

Inspirational teachers and staff from throughout Northern Ireland gathered at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, for the 2018 ENTHUSE Celebration Awards at which Kerrie Wilson, who teaches at Duneane PS in Toomebridge, received the ENTHUSE Award for Excellence in STEM Teaching for Primary Teachers.

The Northern Ireland award winners were also shortlisted for the national awards in London later in the month.

The awards celebration recognises the dedication of teachers in the development of STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and are organised annually by STEM Learning, a provider of education and careers support in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the UK.

The Education Authority (EA) has been working in partnership with the National STEM Centre since 2012 to provide high quality development programmes for teachers and technicians aimed at improving outcomes for pupils and schools.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Dr Gill Humes, EA Lead Officer for the Enthuse Project, paid tribute to all the nominees and to the ENTHUSE team who provide quality development opportunities for teachers and support staff.

“I would like to congratulate all the schools and staff nominated for the 2018 ENTHUSE Awards and thank them for the work that they do in inspiring the young people in our classrooms to embrace STEM subjects,” she said. “A teacher’s time is valuable so any time spent out of the classroom must be worthwhile and bring about improved outcomes for pupils. The programme in Northern Ireland has higher recruitment than anywhere else in the United Kingdom, and is growing in reputation, and so I would like to thank the team that has helped build this over the past six years.”

Guest speaker at the event was Alliance MLA Chris Little who is a member of the All Party Group on STEM and who presented Kerrie with her award. He said: “I am very aware of the importance of fostering a passion for STEM skills at an early age, given the importance of those skills to the world in which we live. The challenges and opportunities that we face as a society are almost totally reliant on those skills for solutions.It is vital that we have people who are passionate about STEM in our schools. I have seen the many opportunities that STEM creates and how much it shapes the world around us, and that is at the heart of inspiring our young people and at the heart of these awards.”