WE do not always get to shine a light on the amazing work that goes on in our schools – but yesterday we did.

The second Youth in Action Education Awards at the Sussex County Cricket Ground in Hove was a triumph.

Building on our first event last year at the American Express Community Stadium, the cream of the crop were honoured for their achievements.

Schools are judged on their exam statistics and The Argus covers every nerve-wracking GCSE and A-level results day.

Sussex figures may have bucked the national trend, but yesterday was not all about grades.

The Youth in Action Education Awards dig deeper to celebrate the whole environment of schools and the people who make them what they are.

It might be easy to grade an exam, but how can you put a mark on the support a mentor gives to a struggling pupil?

How does a teacher get an A* for being there for a student when the going gets tough?

How does a school get an Outstanding Ofsted report for the charity work it does or the successes of their sports teams?

This is where we come in.

We are here to make sure all of those things that would usually go un-noticed are recognised.

To make sure the unsung hero has their moment.

Hopefully it made those who attended realise how great a place Sussex is for education.

That is not because there are more schools graded good or outstanding by Ofsted here than the national average – because there are.

And that is not because the pass rates in the county regularly top the national average – because they do.

It is the people in the schools and their hard work that make them great.

Yesterday was their day.