A FORMER headteacher from Runcorn has been honoured with a prestigious lifetime achievement award.

Ian McDougall, former headteacher of St Berteline’s CofE Primary School, won the special award as judges recognised the ‘immense’ amount of hard work he put in to the school over decades.

He was awarded at the Tes School Awards, one of the biggest nights in the UK education calendar which was held on June 25.

Mr McDougall set up the school in Runcorn in his early 30s.

The area was initially one of high deprivation with many young families living there without relatives on hand to help nearby.

He built the school from 22 pupils to 300, establishing an ‘ambitious’ and ‘vibrant’ community with a strong focus on the importance of outdoor learning.

He helped pupils to see the value of taking care of their environment, putting a stop to vandalism in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as visiting pupils’ homes to ensure they came into school if there were difficulties.

He led outward bound trips to the Lake District and whole-school outings to the beach alongside parents, with groups squeezed into six or seven double-decker buses.

Colleagues describe his enthusiasm for learning as ‘infectious’, and he regularly incorporated performances on his guitar in his humorous assemblies.

Ian also celebrated diversity in the arts through dance projects, multicultural music and cookery.

While semi-retired during the mid-2000s, Mr McDougall also worked as a visiting lecturer at Chester College and with local outward bound groups to bring children from the inner cities out to the countryside. 

Ian McDougall said: “I feel honoured to have been given this award.

‘‘There are literally thousands of people in education who go the extra mile on a daily basis, so I am no different in that sense.

‘‘I feel that all the people I have worked with over the years connected with the school and the school community should benefit from this award – it is for them too”.

The Tes Schools Awards were held virtually to comply with coronavirus regulations. In previous years the awards ceremony has been held at the Grosvenor Hotel, on London’s Park Lane.