News, events and schools' information for families across Bath and West Wiltshire

Raphael Heath of The Royal High School Bath recently attended the prestigious UK grand finale of the Pearson Teaching Awards following his receipt of a Silver Teaching Award earlier this year for his exceptional contribution to the teaching profession

The ceremony, hosted by star of ‘Outnumbered’ and ‘Mock the Week’ Hugh Dennis, and broadcast on BBC2 on 30th October, is an annual event that celebrates the very best of the UK’s teaching profession. It will see Ten Gold Plato awards handed out across categories such as Excellence in Special Needs Education and Lifetime Achievement.

In June of this year, Raphael was recognised for his exceptional contribution to the teaching profession as one of only 52 Silver Teaching Award winners in the UK, winning his award in the category ‘The Award for Outstanding Use of Technology in Education’. Since then, the Geography department has also been named a Geographical Association Centre of Excellence, one of just 16 schools to be presented with this award in the UK.

Raphael has shown significant innovation in his use of technology in teaching and has recognised the vast potential for technology to transform his pupils’ learning experience. His approach is described by Mrs Duncan, Head of The Royal High School Bath as ‘inspirational’ and has led to national recognition in his chosen field of geography, and the position of a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Chartered Geographer.

The Pearson Teaching Awards is an annual celebration of exceptional teachers and teaching, founded in 1999 by Lord Puttnam, and recognises the life-changing impact of an inspirational teacher on the lives of the young people they teach.

As part of his work, over the past year Raphael has also organised global mapping events – in which over 20,000 students from around the world have taken part. His next big event will be in November – The Great Geography Map Off Event – where students will collaborate on a global map with their views about climate change, and be able to analyse the patterns from the results. Around 20,000 have already signed up for this and you can find out more about it on his website http://themapoff.wixsite.com/mapoff