A teacher at a secondary school in Wembley has been honoured at a prestigious awards ceremony for his contribution to education.

Colin Hegarty, an advanced skills maths teacher at Preston Manor High School, in Carlton Ave East, came up trumps at the annual Pearson Teaching Awards, winning the Silver Teaching Award accolade in the category for outstanding use of technology in education.

Mr Hegarty said: “I am so grateful to all those who have supported and helped me so far in my career with particular thanks to Preston Manor, my wonderful school, and our enthusiastic and brilliant pupils.

“Preston Manor has supported me to make my website and is a wonderful place to go to work every day.

“My award just goes to show that good things can happen when you work hard.”

Mr Hegarty previously used the £20,000 he won after entering The Shine Trust’s national teaching competition to help children in Brent get to grips with mathematics.

He is the mastermind behind Hegartymaths.com which features maths tutorials for pupils from year seven through to GCSE and A-level studies

The online tutorials, in video format, aim to make pupils feel they are receiving one-to-one tuition from a teacher who is passionate and knowledgeable about maths.

Matthew Lantos, headteacher at the secondary school said: “Colin is one of a new breed of teachers using new technologies to inspire and engage young people -even those who are traditionally hard to reach.

“Rather than being an excuse to use the latest gadget or software, Colin’s strategies are based on expert pedagogy and as a result have the potential to transform education well beyond the students at Preston Manor.”

Mr Hegarty will now join fellow Silver Award winners at the UK final of the Teaching Awards at London’s Guildhall on 26th October, where 10 Silver Award winners will receive a Gold Award.