A teacher at King’s Ely has been crowned a winner in this year’s Pearson National Teaching Awards.
Esmeralda Salgado, Head of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL), won silver in the prestigious award scheme’s ‘Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School’ category.
Esmeralda, who joined King’s Ely in 2009 and has been teaching languages for 20 years, is one of 80 Silver Pearson National Teaching Award winners in the UK. Esmeralda is now in the running to win a gold award later in the year. Recognition of this once in a lifetime achievement will be broadcast on the BBC’s The One Show as part of a week-long celebration of teaching, which sees famous faces honouring award winners every night in the run up to the ceremony.
Esmeralda commented: “As an MFL Teacher, I am truly honoured and humbled to receive this award, which is not only national recognition of my work, my MFL Department’s work and my school, King’s Ely’s work, but most importantly, recognition of the hard work, enthusiasm and dedication of all MFL teachers in the country! I am extremely grateful to the Pearson National Teaching Awards team for giving me this incredible opportunity to celebrate outstanding teaching and learning throughout the UK.”
In her current position and in her previous role as an Advanced Skills Teacher in the Medway Learning Authority, Esmeralda has supported and coached colleagues within MFL and other curriculum areas, especially NQTs and struggling teachers in Medway schools. She helped them develop their own teaching and learning strategies and boost their confidence, and as a result, that of their pupils.
Jane Thomas, Vice Principal Academic at King’s Ely, said: “Esmeralda is one of the most talented, committed and positive teachers I have ever worked with. She is an amazing problem solver and has a ‘can do’ attitude to everything; this was brought home to me more than ever when during the January-March lockdown last year she took on the teaching load of a colleague who was off with long Covid, meaning that at times she was teaching classes of 50 + pupils and ensuring they continued to receive quality feedback on all their work. Alongside this she also mentored members of her team who were at short notice teaching courses unfamiliar to them.”
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said: “Congratulations to Esmeralda Salgado on this incredible achievement, and for the hard work and dedication which led up to it. Winning this award is impressive, well-deserved and shows Esmeralda’s commitment to helping students achieve their full potential.”
