THE nomination deadline for the Thurrock Education Awards has been extended until the end of the month.

Carmel Littleton, Thurrock Council’s director of children’s services, said: “There have been dozens of nominations already - well over 60 in fact - but I know that people who wanted to nominate someone have suddenly realised they’ve run out of time.

“Nominations were due to close on Friday - 19 September- but we’ve extended the deadline to 30 September.”

She said: “When we launched the awards back in June we were inundated by nominations and I am delighted that so many nominations have come in.

“Hopefully this will serve as a reminder to anyone who has not yet completed their nomination.

“When the awards were first mooted everyone agreed that celebrating Thurrock’s educational successes was a great idea and that celebratory feeling was reflected in that initial surge of nominations.

“We’ve just had a summer with great A Level, GCSEs, and Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 results - I’m sure schools, teachers and parents would like to celebrate that.

“We’ve also seen Thurrock’s primaries surging towards the sort of Ofsted outcomes we know our young people deserve. That needs celebrating too.

“So now’s the time to make sure each and every deserving head, teacher, staff member, governor and school gets a nomination.”

To nominate, visit, www.thurrock.gov.uk/education-awards The winners of the first Thurrock Teaching Awards will be announced at a gala evening on Friday, November 28, at the Backstage Centre, High House Production Park, Purfleet.