A DEDICATED head teacher who has worked tirelessly to turn around the fortunes of a York primary school has been nominated in 2014 The Press Community Pride Awards.

Debbie Glover, of Poppleton Road Primary School, has been put forward for the Teacher Of The Year award by city council leader Coun James Alexander.

Coun Alexander praised her inspirational work to bring the school out of special measures after it received a damning report from Ofsted inspectors. The school was recently graded as good.

He said: “I wanted to nominate Debbie Glover for her work in ensuring the school was taken out of special measures. I feel such a category was unfair on the school, the staff, parents, carers and the children who have shown so much loyalty to the school.

“The school does much credit to the children of Holgate ward. Debbie Glover is a real asset and she deserves much praise for inspiring the community.”

The school went into special measures in 2012 and faced four monitoring inspections until last month, as previously reported in The Press, when inspectors rated it as good.

Mrs Glover received special attention from the inspectors who praised her incredible dedication to the school.

Their report said: “The head teacher has inspired leaders and teachers to believe nothing is impossible. She is highly regarded by pupils, staff and parents.”

Mrs Glover said the whole school community had been thrilled to come out of special measures, and thanked the parents and carers for their loyalty and support.

She said: “This could not have been achieved without the amazing team work from everyone in the school community, particularly the staff and children who have responded to the challenge with such great determination and commitment.”

Teacher of the Year is one of 11 categories in the Community Pride awards, which honour the heroes of York whose hard work and selfless dedication make the city a better place for everyone.

For more information on all the categories, or to submit a nomination, visit yorkpress.co.uk/pride

All nominees must live in, or contribute to life in, the City of York Council area. Three finalists from each category will be invited to the awards ceremony at York Racecourse in October, when the winners will be revealed.