Excellent school staff in Essex were rewarded at the second annual Essex Teaching Awards ceremony.

The competition, run by Essex County Council, saw top teachers nominated by colleagues and pupils during the first term of the academic year.

Winners were announced in a ceremony at the Lord Ashcroft International Business School at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford.

They included Laura Dowsett, at the Maltings Academy, Witham, who won teaching assistant of the year, and Paul Disley at Highwoods Community Primary School, Colchester, who won teacher of the year at primary level.

Other north Essex winners were:

• The midday team at John Ray Junior School, Braintree, who won school team of the year

• Governors at Highwoods Primary School, Colchester, who won governing body of the year

• Penny Smith, headteacher at White Notley Primary School, who was given a lifetime achievement award

• Steve Lever, Tendring Technology College, who won the student choice award at secondary school level

Ray Gooding, county councillor for education and lifelong learning, said: “I was delighted to attend the Essex Teaching Awards and meet the winning teachers and support teams.

“Once again we received a high quality of applications, reflecting the wealth of experience among teaching professionals in Essex.

“New to the awards this year was the Student Choice Award and it was wonderful to see teachers being recognised by the students they inspired, who were there to cheer them on.

“The direct impact these winners have on their students, especially those in challenging circumstances is clear and in many cases life changing.

“All winners will be entered into the National Teaching Awards run by Pearson, and we will be sharing these examples of excellence within the winning entries across the county to ensure we continue to improve standards in Essex.”

In a statement Tendring Technology College said: “Congratulations and well done to Steve and Caroline [Haynes, who was highly commended for secondary headteacher of the year] at the Essex Teaching Awards ceremony.

“It was a fabulous evening and Steve was described as ‘someone who has made a real difference to the students, enabling and supporting them to achieve their grades’ while Caroline was described as ‘someone who is totally committed to all the students in the college where they make outstanding progress’.

“What a fantastic achievement and very well deserved.”