Ormiston Academies Trust, with schools in Ipswich and Sudbury, wins silver at Pearson National Teaching Award

A school trust which runs a number of academies across Suffolk has scooped a national teaching award.

Ormiston Academies Trust, which runs Ormiston Endeavour Academy, Stoke High and Thomas Wolsey Ormiston Academy in Ipswich, as well as Ormiston Sudbury Academy, won a silver award at the Pearson National Teaching Award for its social action work.

The trust secured the award for its WeWill campaign, which saw pupils at 93 schools across the UK work to support their local communities.

Across 272,689 combined hours, pupils undertook social action work to help make a difference to the world around them.

Chief executive Tom Rees said the trust was proud to have been recognised.

“It has been heartwarming to see our students and staff across the Trust get involved with so many different projects which have had such a positive effect on their communities,” he said.

“We look forward to seeing these projects continue to grow, and to building new initiatives in the future.”

At Ormiston Endeavour Academy, students learned about the damaging effects of fast fashion on the environment, donated clothing to banks or charities and hosted a second-hand fashion show.

Students at Stoke High hid geo-caches, a type of worldwide treasure hunt where the coordinates are shared over the internet, in their local area.

Pupils at Thomas Wolsey Ormiston Academy learned how to harvest produce for cooking lessons and also experimented with trying new meals.

Now it has secured the silver award, Ormiston will now seek the coveted gold award.

The announcement comes on National Thank a Teacher Day, which alongside the Pearson National Teaching Award, is organised by the Teaching Awards Trust.

Author Michael Morpurgo, president of the Teaching Awards Trust, said he was thrilled to all winners of this year’s silver award.

He added: “The work and devotion of all of those who play a role in educating young people is phenomenal.

“Not only do they play a vital role in shaping minds inside the classroom, often they continue to encourage, support, motivate and inspire beyond.”