Dame Pamela Sarah Coward, DBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 educator and teacher who was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003 for having transformed her school, Middleton Technology School, in Middleton, Greater Manchester

Middleton, Greater Manchester

Middleton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Irk, south-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester...

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She is a champion of the specialist schools scheme - hers was one of the first technology specialists. Since 1991 she has taken Middleton Technology School from the bottom to the top of the performance tables locally, recently being praised by Ofsted

Ofsted

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

 for the quality of its teaching and her leadership.

She has said that the honour belongs to the whole community for their support. In her own words,

The challenge really is to eradicate street values from the school and to get everybody involved, to get parents supportive and to feel that education is valuable and to give children the confidence to feel they can compete with anyone anywhere.

Post-retirement

Dame Pamela retired in 2004 and now works as on a consultancy basis to other schools and establishments. Since September 2010 Dame Pamela has been the Chair of Governors at Kingsway Park High School

Kingsway Park High School

Kingsway Park High School is a 11–16 mixed Foundation School that opened in September 2010. The school is located in the Kingsway area of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.-History:...

, Rochdale

Rochdale

Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...

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