We had a fantastic day at the first ever Above and Beyond Awards in Birmingham on February 11th 2019. The awards celebrate parents, teachers, support staff and other professionals in the UK who go ‘above and beyond’ to help exceptional young people within the UK achieve their high learning potential. They also celebrate the achievements of children and young people in the UK, ‘above and beyond’ expectation for their age, who help in the wider community or are overcoming challenges in order to excel.
Hosted by the brilliant Bobby Seagull, who regaled everyone with tales of the importance of libraries and football to him growing up (and now!), we welcomed the shortlisted nominees for afternoon tea and a presentation of awards and certificates to our amazing winners and runners-up. The judges had an unenviable task deciding which inspirational people to put forward for this day – thank you to everyone who nominated someone for the Award. Congratulations in particular to Potential Plus UK member Adam Rafael Holmes who won the Young Person’s Resilience Award.
Peter Bearne came to film the day to share on ITV News Central, and you can get a flavour of the day from our Gallery page.
Presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award was made by former Potential Plus UK President and maths legend, Johnny Ball, who stressed how important it is to both identify gifted children and help them to reach their potential; his parents were told not to overstimulate him in case it damaged his mind! The Lifetime Achievement award went to Professor Diane Montgomery for her work supporting children and young adults with high learning potential, and those with a special educational need (DME).
So many organisations that support children with high learning potential got together with Potential Plus UK to create the Above and Beyond Awards. Hopefully this is just the first of many fruitful co-operations together. To find out more about the awards and read the judges comments about the winners, visit our Awards pages.
About the Author: Geraldine Glover is Potential Plus UK’s Community Information Coordinator. She is a Chartered Information Professional with a background in editorial work and information science. She is the mother of two children with high learning potential.
