With weeks left until the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards are announced, the host of the presentation ceremony is looking forward to welcoming the winners.

The ceremony takes place next month at the Ashford International Hotel, where staff are currently fine-tuning preparations for what is sure to be a memorable evening.

The award winners have already received their invitations to the ceremony, and the hotel’s general manager, Veronica Kingham, said she shared their sense of excitement.

She said: “We’re delighted to be hosting the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards.

“It’s great to be involved in the initiative. We host a lot of events around the educational sector, so it is nice to be able to give something back.”

Ms Kingham said the fact that the hospitality sector was reliant on young people for providing so much of its workforce meant it owed a special debt to teachers for equipping it with staff with the right talents, adding: “It’s lovely to be able to recognise the people who are responsible for giving and sharing those skills with young people.”

Organised by the KM Charity Team, the awards recognise excellence across the primary, secondary and further education sectors, and winners will be announced for Kent’s individual boroughs as well as the county as a whole.

The judges are Kent, Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church universities, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Kreston Reeves, Social Enterprise Kent, Loop CR, Kent Sport and Physical Education, Salus, Diggerland, Kape HR, Medway Youth Trust, KCS, Towergate Insurance, The Education People and EduKit.

Awards coordinator Karen Brinkman said: “Everyone involved in organising and judging these awards has worked incredibly hard to identify the best teaching talent in the county, and we’re so looking forward to meeting the winners at the Ashford International Hotel next month.

“It will be a fantastic night at a great venue, and one which the teachers present thoroughly deserve.”

Find out more about the awards at KentTeacheroftheYear.co.uk.

And watch a video in which Veronica Kingham talks about them here: