Well done to North Easterner, Mike Vening who was presented with the Ted Wragg Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2009 UK Teaching Awards recently.

Having a good teacher makes such a massive difference to young people in raising their aspirations, encouraging them to achieve and generally nurturing them.

This is especially true of children with learning difficulties who have so many other challenges to deal with on a daily basis, including bullying.

The fact that Mike devoted so much of his life to championing their cause is commendable and brilliant that he has been recognised for it.