SchoolsOUT is delighted to announce that Elly Barnes has been shortlisted for Teacher of the Year in the 2012 Times Educational Supplement (TES) Schools Awards. The Awards celebrate and reward those making an outstanding contribution to education in the UK. Ms Barnes is the Schools Representative for SchoolsOUT and has successfully trained teachers in making their schools LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans) friendly.
Her school, Stoke Newington School in the London Borough of Hackney has become a centre for diversity training following the successful implementation of whole school curriculum-based policies that tackle homophobia. Ms Barnes also wrote the music lesson plans that appear in the Classroom – an online collection of resources covering all subjects and key stages that can be found on the TES Resources website. Her Key Stage 5 lesson the Trouser Role, where students gain a knowledge of LGBT musicians in history, has recently been highlighted by the TES in the ‘In the Spotlight’ feature of their e-newsletter. Altogether the Classroom resources have now been viewed over 11 000 times, reflecting the need that teachers feel for lesson plans that tackle these issues. Last year Ms Barnes was voted number one on the Independent on Sunday’s Pink List of influential LGBT people.
Being shortlisted for a prestigious teaching award is an important recognition of the importance of the work that SchoolsOUT promotes to challenge and eradicate homophobia from our schools. Winners will be announced on July 6th at a special luncheon at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane London.
On hearing of her nomination, Elly Barnes said ‘this is a surprise, but also very confirming to have LGBT inclusion recognised in this way’.
The Classroom http://www.tes.co.uk/mypublicprofile.aspx?uc=2151777
