AN ENGLISH teacher from Marling School in Stroud is off to London to attend the prestigious UK grand final of the Pearson National Teaching Awards.

Back in June of this year, Jayne Southwell was recognised for her exceptional contribution to the teaching profession as one of just 64 Silver Teaching Award winners in the UK.

She won top spot in the category The Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School.

Jayne and the other Silver Award winners will attend a glittering ceremony at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden on Sunday October 18 to find out which of them has been selected to win a National Pearson Teaching Award, also known as a Gold Plato Award.

The ceremony, hosted by TV historian Dan Snow and filmed by the BBC, will see the announcement of just 11 Gold Plato award-winners, representing the very best of the UK’s teaching profession.

The Pearson Teaching Awards are an annual celebration of exceptional teachers and teaching.

Founded in 1999 by Lord Puttnam, they recognise the life-changing impact of an inspirational teacher on the lives of the young people they teach.

The ceremony will be broadcast on BBC2 at 6pm on Sunday October 25 as Britain’s Classroom Heroes.

Outside of the English curriculum Mrs Southwell is regarded as an excellent tutor of her 6th Form tutor group.

In addition, she developed and leads the school debating groups with the same purposeful approach.

Her own time is given freely to coach and then transport the school’s debating teams to competitions in the UK and Europe.