The company, which makes education toys and learning aids, won the category for the best special educational resource and was picked as exporter of the year which is an award the firm also won in 2002.

The national awards, regarded as the “Oscars” of the industry, attracted entrants from the whole education supply industry and mark product excellence, business achievement and outstanding service.

Learning Resources’ design-and-drill activity set won the first award. This kit gets children to use their hands and eyes to make patterns and at the same time enjoy role play with a toolkit of pretend spanners, drill, nuts, bolts and screwdrivers. It is particularly useful for children with special educational needs including dyspraxia and cerebral palsy.

Managing director, Dennis Blackmore, said they were surprised and delighted with the awards and especially for exports. “2007 was an oustanding year for our export business,” he said.

In 2007 the company’s export turnover increased by 31 per cent. It created a multi-lingual export sales team, won government tenders in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Malta and donated £60,000 of products to schools in Uganda.