A PIONEERING headteacher has been given special recognition at the Tes Schools Awards, one of the biggest nights in the UK education calendar.

Yvonne Conolly, the UK’s first female black headteacher, received a special Services to Education Award.

Conolly forged a path – despite many early obstacles – that has empowered generations to follow. When she started as headteacher of a north London primary in the late 1960s, Conolly received so many racist threats that she needed a bodyguard to accompany her to school. But she had the courage to stand firm. More than 50 years later, she told Tes: “It is an important achievement which has opened doors for more women like me.”

“She is an inspirational educator, a shining beacon of hope and courage who lit the path so others could follow”

Chief judge of the Tes Schools Awards and Editor of Tes magazine Ann Mroz

Conolly had undertaken three years of teacher training in Jamaica prior to arriving in Britain in 1963 as part of the Windrush generation. She originally intended to stay for only three years.

As headteacher of Ring Cross Primary in Holloway, London, she showed pupils that “we are all the same but different” by inviting her dentist, who was black, into school to give a talk. “The children all sat there and I could see everybody’s mouth was open. They couldn’t believe that a dentist was black,” she said.

This is not the first recognition of Conolly’s trailblazing career, Prince Charles recently awarded her the 2020 Honorary Fellow of Education award.

Reacting to the award, Conolly said: “This is such a wonderful surprise, and I am delighted. However, I am honoured to have been able to work in such an incredible field all my life – that of education.”

Chief judge of the Tes Schools Awards and Editor of Tes magazine Ann Mroz said: “Yvonne Conolly, this country’s first black female headteacher, has received plaudits from HRH The Prince of Wales, the prime minister Boris Johnson and education secretary Gavin Williamson. She was also awarded a CBE in this year’s Queens birthday honours. And rightly so.

“But tonight she received a special award from her own profession, one to which she dedicated 40 years of her life. She is an inspirational educator, a shining beacon of hope and courage who lit the path so others could follow. Quite simply, an amazing woman.”

The Tes Schools Awards were held virtually on Friday 13 November for the first time to comply with coronavirus regulations. In previous years the awards ceremony has been held at the Grosvenor Hotel, on London’s Park Lane.