Peterborough’s Queen Katharine Academy commended in teaching awards

Education charity, the PTI has announced the English department at Queen Katharine Academy in Peterborough as commended for the Bernice McCabe Award at a Ceremony last night at Merchant Taylors’ Hall.

Bernice McCabe OBE, who sadly passed away in February 2019, was the founding co-director of the PTI and believed in the transformative power of inspiring subject teaching.

The Award has been created to remember Bernice and to promote and celebrate excellence in subject leadership in schools, recognising departments that put quality subject teaching at the heart of the classroom. A £5,000 prize and trophy is awarded annually to an exceptional department which demonstrates the ethos and values of the PTI through their work within and beyond the curriculum.

The English department at Queen Katharine Academy’s vision was to promote social mobility at Key Stage 5 (KS5), the two years of education for students aged 16-18, through academic attainment.

They completely revised the curriculum at KS5 following Deputy Subject Lead of English, Josephine De Garis’, attendance at a dedicated PTI residential weekend.

This resulted in an increased uptake in English at KS5 across all three English strands. This is unprecedented in the history of the school and is a great leap forward as these are challenging, academic subjects.

Ms De Garis, Head of Department, said: “We cannot emphasize highly enough how fundamental the influence of the PTI has been in changing the outlook and attitudes in our department. The structure of the project has meant that we have been able to impact whole school policies and cross curricular cohesion - in addition to this, the department has been altered positively on its journey to broadening student horizons, enabling us to promote curiosity and foster a genuine, long standing love of learning”.

Carolyn Roberts, Co-Director, The PTI, said: “The PTI is thrilled to announce the English department at Queen Katharine Academy as commended for the coveted Bernice McCabe Award. It is crystal clear that the winning, highly commended and commended departments shortlisted are truly passionate and enthusiastic about their respective subjects, which drives everything they do. The work being done in these departments is truly inspiring and will change young people’s lives”.

Professor Steve Munby CBE, Judge, said: “This year the judges were impressed yet again by the skill, passion and powerful subject leadership shown by each department shortlisted. These dedicated departments have gone above and beyond to inspire and enthuse their students in their subject field and the results are phenomenal”.