Every year, an MEITT trainee  is chosen to receive the Danny Audritt Award.

Danny was a teacher who trained with Mid Essex ITT in 2016-2017. He went through heart surgery during his first term of training and sadly passed away in February 2018, the year after qualifying.

 He was determined, passionate about teaching, and brave. You can read more about Danny here.

This year, the trainee chosen to receive the award in memory of Danny is Bethany Quinn, an English teacher who completed her training with MEITT at Hedingham School and Sixth Form, and is now a qualified teacher working at Notley High School & Braintree Sixth Form.

Beth has amazed us all with her positivity and dedication this year, despite facing some significant diffficulties with her sight. Here, she descibes her experiences:

"July 2021 marks two significant milestones: having completed my QTS in June 2021, and having lived 12 weeks as a sight-impaired individual, at 22 years old. 

"Like so many people who live with an invisible illness or disability, my condition has no identifier.  “Partially sighted”, “sight impaired”, “visual difficulties” are all terms that are now associated with me, which wouldn’t otherwise be obvious unless I disclosed that I have limited sight.  For me, being a teacher was an identity I was so proud of, yet being sight-impaired was a label shrouded in so much uncertainty, hopelessness and despondency. 

"Kindness, patience and warmth are foundational principles to Mid Essex ITT.  The individuals who work for the provider are perhaps the kindest group of individuals one could ever meet.  12 weeks on from losing my sight, I’m at a place I wanted to be for so long: as a teacher of English.  Whilst it was under circumstances I could never have imagined, Mid Essex taught me that like teaching, life is unpredictable, surprising, but most of all, so joyful.

"One year into my teaching career, I cannot wait to see what the future holds.  Being a teacher who also has a visual impairment is such a privilege.  My words carry a new weight when I tell students that the world is what they want it to be: particularly for students who feel as though they don’t see themselves reflected in the world, I hope my teaching shows them that sometimes, we need to be the ones to carve that space out first.

"Whilst it is me who is partially-sighted, so much of what I have managed, and continued to manage, is all made possible because of the support, benevolence and warmth from Mid Essex ITT.  The team at Mid Essex not only taught me how to be a teacher but taught me that I am so much more than what happened to me: I am what I become."