A TEACHER at Corsham Primary School has been shortlisted as a winner in a national teaching competition.

Special needs co-ordinator Hilary Eyley won the West of England regional award for excellence in special needs teaching.

Mrs Eyley, who started teaching 28 years ago, won £2,000 cash and more than £2,500 worth of computer equipment, including an interactive white board for the primary school.

Now she has been invited to attend the Teaching Awards 2004 National Ceremony at the Palace Theatre in London on October 24.

The ceremony will be televised in early November and if Mrs Eyley wins the school will get more than £25,000 in cash grants and computer equipment.

Other winners include Irene Hunt of Headlands School in Swindon and Emma Summers of The George Ward School in Melksham.

Ms Hunt won the award for lifetime achievement and Ms Summers won the award for outstanding new teacher in a secondary school.

Mrs Eyley has taught at the school for seven years and has co-ordinated the special needs unit for six years.

The unit, called the Brook Centre, takes 18 children and is a regional centre taking pupils from other schools.

In the last three years Mrs Eyley's help and support has enabled 15 children to rejoin their local community schools.

Mrs Eyley said: "I was very pleased with the award."

"We have been very successful with many of the children. We aim to integrate them into mainstream schools. We have had lots of successes."

The regional winners were decided by parents, pupils, colleagues and governors from across the West of England who voted online.

Short listed nominees were visited by a regional awards panel made up of representatives from the education community.

Corsham Primary School has also won awards for artistic achievement.

The Arts Council has awarded the school a gold award for its arts teaching both in lessons and out-of-school.

And, in a separate award, Corsham Civic Society has awarded young artist Conor Scobbie a special award for art.

Headteacher Fiona Allen said the the school was delighted to have won the gold award from the Arts Council.

The school has a very strong arts culture, with artists in residence and clubs for music, dance, ceramics and art.

Visitors and parents come into the school to help. For example, Olympic artist Kevin Witney will be taking work from Corsham's young artists to the Olympic village in Athens.

Every year each class has its own art competition with the winners being selected by staff and celebrated at the school's awards ceremony.

This year Corsham Civic Society created a special award for the overall winner of the competition which was given to Conor this year.

Carol Smith and Peter Tapscott, of the Corsham Civic Society, framed and inscribed Conor's entry and presented it to him.