Teachers, leaders and carers across the country continue to be recognised for their work during the Covid 19 pandemic in the 2021 New Year’s Honours.

119 people have been recognised in this year’s New Year Honours List for their outstanding contributions to the education and children’s services sectors. The list includes headteachers, teachers, social workers, foster carers and many more who work with the most disadvantaged in society as well as those selected for their efforts during the pandemic.

Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson said:

The work that went in to making sure pupils could continue their vital education during national restrictions has been phenomenal. It is fantastic to see so many people being recognised with some of the highest honours this country can award.

I would like to congratulate all the recipients on the New Year’s List because their work is so inspiring and deserving of recognition.

I would also like to offer a special thank you to those who continue to dedicate their time and support during this national effort to combat Covid 19. This list highlights the many committed professionals who are working tirelessly across education and children’s services to deliver better outcomes for young people and students across the country during this challenging period.

Among those honoured are foster carers Nigel and Rachel Poulton who took in 11 children during the pandemic. The couple planned each child’s time carefully, making time to home school each child based on their individual needs, drawing on their own skills but also accessing online tutors to ensure no child is disadvantaged due to the exceptional situation.

Professor Edward Peck, Vice chancellor at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), has received a CBE for ensuring NTU’s commitment to furthering social mobility through education by supporting students from less privileged backgrounds. A notable example of Peck’s efforts was during the coronavirus lockdown when he waived accommodation fees for law students who had left the city so the financial burden of Coronavirus was not passed on to students.

Similarly Mark Siswick, headteacher at Chesterton Primary School, located in a highly deprived area of South West London, has received an MBE for his efforts during the pandemic. When the Prime Minister announced that all schools would be closed from 23 March 2020 except for vulnerable children and the children of key workers, Siswick was at the forefront of an effort to make over 140 films that teach the Government’s Letters and Sounds programme available to children remotely.

A number of non-Covid 19 related nominees also feature on the list. Irene Lucas-Hayes, Chair of the Hays Travel Group has received a DBE for her passion, drive and determination to create opportunities for communities and individuals within them. She has focused consistently on creating an environment in which employment opportunities are supported by the acquisition of skills, whether it be in promoting apprenticeships in local authorities and the travel industry, or through her work on encouraging advanced manufacturing investments in the North East.

For more information on the nominations, please contact the Department for Education Press Office on 02077838300.

Nominating someone for an award:

If you know someone working to improve education, children’s services, or social mobility who deserves an honour, please contact the Honours Team: honours.team@education.go.uk

Like many of you, 2020 has been an unforgettable year for the British Embassy team in Chile. First, the COVID pandemic hit us quickly and severely tested our resilience. We had 3,000 British tourists stranded in Chile and another 1,000 stranded on cruise ships. With flights suspended and cruise ships initially banned from disembarking passengers, it was a major logistical task to get all those passengers safely home and to look after those tourists who became ill.

The Embassy entered crisis mode in March and as well as repatriating thousands of British tourists, we had to rapidly find new ways of working to ensure everyone’s safety, including Embassy staff. Luckily, we benefitted from some excellent IT and laptops that had been rolled out across the Foreign Office network just a few months earlier.

Once we had repatriated the stranded tourists, including on a special charter flight, we began to look at ways in which we could collaborate with Chile in order to fight COVID-19. The Embassy launched a number of projects to help Chile tackle the pandemic locally, for example, a pilot project between Universities in the UK and Chile to investigate ways in which copper could be used to kill the virus on surfaces. Another example included working with a local NGO to help provide support to the homeless.

Later in 2020, the UK and Chile worked together with the World Health Organisation to ensure equitable access to vaccines for the world’s poorest countries, by agreeing a new financing mechanise – COVAX. More recently, Chile is playing its part in helping to develop a vaccine by permitting AstraZeneca/Oxford to carry out Phase 3 clinical trials in Chile. Yesterday we woke up to the good news that the vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.

At the same time, the Embassy team has also been preparing for the UK’s exit from the EU, negotiating a continuity trade agreement that will guarantee that British and Chilean companies continue to enjoy the same access to each other’s markets.

Finally, we have been working closely with Chile on climate change. Chile is the current President of COP25, the climate change summit, and will hand over that responsibility to the UK for COP26 in Glasgow, 2021. It has been great to work with Chile in the run-up to Glasgow, by collaborating on green finance, hydrogen, renewable energies and commitments to cut carbon emissions. As well as playing a leading role on tackling climate change in Latin America, Chile shares our ambition to secure positive outcomes at COP26 that make a tangible difference on climate change.

So it’s been a very busy and challenging year, which is why I’d like to salute the British Embassy Team for all their hard work and commitment. Let’s hope that 2021 is a better year for us all.

Further information

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