A HEADTEACHER has been given an award in the Queen’s birthday honours for services to education.

Lesley Powell, who works at The Academy at Shotton Hall, in Peterlee, will be presented with the CBE.

Ms Powell, who is from Gateshead, is also chief executive of the North East Learning Trust.

She said: “It means a huge amount to me and my family and I am privileged to have been named amongst such worthy recipients. This award represents the work of many other people particularly the staff at Shotton Hall who work tirelessly to give the children of our community access to an education that can compete with the very best schools in the country.”

Ms Powell, who has been teaching for 29 years, has worked her way up from being a newly qualified teacher at Highfield School in Gateshead in 1988.

She worked at schools in Manchester for three years before returning to her native North-East 12 years ago to take up a deputy head post at Shotton Hall. She was promoted to headteacher seven years ago and secured an outstanding judgment from Ofsted for the school in 2013.

Ms Powell has established Shotton Hall as a teaching school, established the North East Learning Trust which now boasts five schools in its growing family. Ms Powell is also a national leader of education, practicing Ofsted inspector, member of the regional headteacher board and member of the national secondary headteachers reference group. This year Shotton Hall was named as one of just 11 prestigious research schools in England.

She said: “I’d also like to thank staff in other schools in our trust and colleagues in education across the North-East and nationally who have supported me throughout the years.

“I always wanted to be a teacher and I could never imagine doing anything else, to be rewarded in this way for doing something I love is such an honour.”