TV historian Dr David Starkey will present the top awards at the Kent Teacher of the Year 2008 ceremony.

Dr Starkey, who lives near Canterbury, says good teachers helped him achieve academic excellence by recognising early on the potential in “the boy who didn’t fit in”.

Cambridge-educated Dr Starkey won widespread acclaim for his television programmes on the Tudor monarchs and his Channel 4 series Monarchy.

Coming from an impoverished family and suffering from club foot, Dr Starkey, who was born in Cumbria, was given a lifeline by his primary school headmistress.

He said of her: “I was from a poor family with club foot encased in plaster – the boy who didn’t fit in – but she spotted my talent very quickly and was sensitive and caring.”

Dr Starkey went on to Kendal Grammar School and said: “Teachers have inspired me at each stage of my education, from primary school, right through to university.”

So what are the qualities Dr Starkey will be hoping to find in the winners of the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards, 2008?

He said: “Good teachers have got to have confidence in their subject, in what they are teaching and that it matters.

“They must have the ability to communicate and inspire.”

In a reference to the strictures of the National Curriculum, with its narrow focus and adherence to testing, Dr Starkey said that good teachers will stand out by being a little different and even eccentric.

Click here for more information on the awards>>>

The Kent Teacher of the Year Awards 2008 will be held at the Priestfield banqueting centre, Gillingham Football Club on Wednesday, July 2.

Judges have been selecting the winners with invitations due to be sent out over the coming week.

The event is sponsored by KCC, Canterbury Christ Church University, Hays Education, Pfizer, Gillingham Football Club, Priestfield Banqueting and Denne Construction.

For more information call Simon Dolby on 07989 164752.