Character Awards winners for 2016 announced

The Department for Education Character Awards winners for 2016 have been announced by Edward Timpson, Children and Families Minister.

The awards, introduced by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan in 2015, celebrate excellence and diversity in character education, recognising that character is already being encouraged, nurtured and developed alongside academic rigour through a variety of programmes inside and outside schools across the country.

Timpson announced the 2016 DfE Character Award winners at he inaugural Association of Character Education (ACE) conference, held at the University of Birmingham School on 1 July.

With an award for each of the UK’s nine regions, and an overall national winner, Charlotte Hill, chair of the Character Awards judging panel and chief executive of Step Up To Serve, said: “The benefits of getting involved in character-building activities in and out of school extend well beyond the classroom. Taking part sets young people up to lead happy and successful lives at the same time and make a positive contribution to society.”

The winning entries were: Thoresby Primary School, Hull, for Yorkshire and the Humber; North Herts Education Support Centre (PRU), Hitchin, Hertfordshire, for East of England; Team London, Southwark, for Greater London; Archibald Primary School, Middlesbrough, for the North East; Birtenshaw School, Bolton, Greater Manchester, for the North West; Newlands Primary School, Yateley, Hampshire, for the South East; Great Torrington School, Devon, for the South West; Nottingham Girls Academy, Nottingham, for the East Midlands; and The Cooperative Academy, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, for the West Midlands.

Thoresby Primary School in Hull also won the national category, with Timpson commenting: “I’m delighted to announce Thoresby Primary School in Hull as the national winner of the Character Awards, alongside the 8 others receiving regional awards today. They’ve been rightly recognised for showing tremendous commitment to instilling positive character in young people, and their work demonstrates the breadth of ways that character can be developed, from sport and music activities, to youth social action and the development of an ethos around specific traits. I congratulate them all.”