Head teacher feels stunned by national award

Sarah Hanson has been named a primary school head teacher of the year, in the Pearson National Teaching Awards

A teacher has been left feeling stunned after being named a head teacher of the year in a national awards scheme.

Sarah Hanson, head at St Barnabas CE Primary, in Worcester, beat thousands of rivals to win one of the Silver Awards at the Pearson National Teaching Awards.

Ms Hanson will now be entered for the coveted Gold Award, the winner of which will announced at a ceremony later this year.

The accolade comes after the school was also named "Worcestershire Primary School of the Year".

"I am absolutely blown away, stunned and excited and grateful, to be honest," said Ms Hanson, who was presented with the county accolade at the school's sports day on Wednesday.

'Quite lost for words'

She is one of a handful of head teachers across the country named as silver winners in this year’s awards.

Speaking to BBC Hereford & Worcester, Ms Hanson said: "It is an incredible job.

"We are in tough times educationally at the moment and I feel shocked [to win the award], to be truthful."

She said the "little humans" at her school were the ones that kept her going each day and why she did her job in the first place.

Getting nominated in itself was "amazing", she explained, and after being interviewed for that she had not really thought about it since.

"Anyone who knows me will say, 'She has always got something to say'," Ms Hanson said.

"But I am feeling quite lost for words because it feels like a massive honour."

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