Rochdale’s finest educators are preparing to brush the chalk dust off their shoulders and don their best “I’m still marking at midnight” expressions as they descend upon the Town Hall this November for the second annual Raising Rochdale Education Awards, a glittering ceremony where applause flows freely and budgets do not.
Sponsored by organisations with names like “Mysonpages.com” and “AAA Pest Control”, because nothing says academic prestige like the people who fumigate your science lab, the event boasts 18 categories, each one lovingly designed to reflect the parts of the education system that haven’t been bulldozed by underfunding and existential dread.
The shortlist features heroic teachers, exhausted support staff, and governors who presumably still believe in hope, all vying for awards like Teacher of the Year, Commitment to Science Education, and Support Star, which sounds like something you get for not crying before 10am.
600 nominations, zero planning periods
More than 600 nominations poured in this year, mostly written by children hopped up on Pritt Stick fumes and parents who still believe that saying “they’re a credit to you” at parents’ evening is the height of sincerity. Judges reportedly faced a gruelling task choosing finalists, especially when trying to decode handwriting from Year 4 and avoid selecting anyone who’d recently gone viral for shouting at a laminator.
Honouring those who work miracles with blu tack and trauma
Finalists include everyone from science champions and inclusion warriors to post-16 tutors who deserve sainthood for teaching GCSE resits without crying blood. Cardinal Langley RC High School, which appears more frequently on the list than Ofsted in a panic attack, is nominated in roughly every category except “Best Break Room”, possibly because there isn’t one.
Lifetime Achievement nominees include those who’ve spent decades in schools and are still upright, which in itself is worthy of a statue or at least a mug that doesn’t say “World’s Okayest Teacher”.
Awarded in applause, repaid in leftover PTA biscuits
Event organiser Andrew Bridson, headteacher, optimist and man dangerously close to a burnout-fuelled karaoke incident, said the judging process was “incredibly competitive,” though this year’s real challenge remains teaching PSHE in a corridor while dodging an ongoing ceiling leak.
Cllr Rachel Massey chimed in with heartfelt political sincerity, reminding us that “education plays a massive role” in children’s lives, unlike national education budgets, which play more of a disappearing act.
And yet, through it all, Rochdale’s educators endure. With highlighters in hand and “quiet hands” echoing in their dreams, they march on, inspiring the next generation, shaping futures, and wondering if it’s possible to claim emotional damage on a P60.
Winners will be announced on Friday, 14 November. Losers will still be expected to cover break duty Monday morning.
