HEAD teacher at Oaklands School in Winsford, Kevin Boyle, has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours due to the ‘extraordinary work’ he does for education.

Kevin, 59, from Hartford, who has been a teacher for 38 years, including 27 years as a head teacher, was flying the flag for Winsford in this year’s list of birthday honours.

The head teacher, who has been at Oaklands for 16 years, took over when there was some ‘concern’ surrounding the school and has turned it around to now being recognised as ‘outstanding’ by school standards regulator Ofsted.

He is also the branch secretary for the National Association of Head Teachers and was appointed as a National Leader of Education (NLE) earlier this year, meaning he provides support to schools and colleagues all over the country.

Kevin said: “It’s an amazing feeling and such an honour to be nominated and approved for this.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how you feel when that happens because clearly I am paid to be a head teacher but it’s about all that other stuff you do that adds value to the service.

“I have always had an active portfolio supporting my colleagues. It’s a very humbling thought that you can have some input into schools where things might not be as good as they could be.

“I give a lot of input into the National Association of Head Teachers and offer support to my colleagues all over and I think they have massively valued that support really, I get regular phone calls asking for support from schools.”

Kevin was nominated for the honour by Oaklands chair of governors, Aileen Parry, who herself was given an MBE last year for her services to special educational needs.

Aileen Parry said: “Kevin does so much for his colleagues and he really deserves to be recognised. He’s just been given the role of National Leader of Education which is a huge honour and now he’s been given an OBE just a few months later, it’s a fantastic year for him.

“Things are really going well at Oaklands at the minute everywhere you look. We’ve got an outstanding Ofsted rating, I was given an MBE last year, and now Kevin, the head teacher, has been recognised for the extraordinary work he does.

“I just think it’s amazing to have two people at the same school be honoured in the Queen’s Birthday list, I’m not sure if we’re the only school in the country.”