TEACHER Kath Mead is in the running for a teaching “Oscar”.

Mrs Mead, a teacher at Blackrod Primary School, has been nominated in this year’s Pearson Teaching Awards.

She has made it through to the northern regional finals and will find out in the coming weeks whether she will attend the awards in October, which will be hosted by Clare Balding.

Mrs Mead said: “I had no idea I had been nominated, it came as a total shock.

“The first I knew about it was when the staff presented me with a This is Your Life-type book. I was very touched and happy.”

Mrs Mead, who started at Blackrod as a newly qualified teacher, has taught at the school for 10years.

Award judges came to watch her teach last week and interview pupils at the school, which has enjoyed success at the awards in previous years.

Headteacher Ian Dryburgh put Mrs Mead forward, saying: “She always puts children at the centre of everything she does. She does not see teaching as a job, but a vocation.”

Mr Dryburgh said Mrs Mead’s success reflected the hard work of all the staff who he said were delighted and supportive of her success. Actress Anna Friel, who was given an honorary doctorate from the University of Bolton in 2006, is this year’s ambassador of the Pearson Teaching Awards.

She said: “It’s easy to take your teachers for granted when you’re at school because you don’t always appreciate just what an important role they play in your life. As a child it can seem like they are simply to teach you about a subject or prepare you for an exam, but in reality they do far more than that. They help shape you as a person — your personality, what’s right and wrong, guiding you onto your career path.”