Alperton teacher best in the world wins $1m

Andria Zafirakou, an art and textiles teacher at Alperton Community College, Brent Secondary school has won the prestigious Global Teacher Prize worth $1m (£717, 000) from Varkey Foundation at a ceremony in Dubai on Sunday. According to Zafirakou, art and textiles are powerful subjects that help the students unlock all of their language barriers.

Children in the North West London, where she works face complex challenges including violent crime and gangs that work to recruit youngsters on their way home from school.

Ms Zafirakou has introduced after-school and weekend support for children to given them a safe place to work and has also worked with police and students to protect pupils as they are leaving school.

The Multi-lingual school in Alperton speaks about 35 different languages and Ms Zafirakou has worked to learn a few words from them so as to communicate better with everyone at the school.

Alperton College is now among the top 5% of schools in the UK in terms of accreditation and qualifications an improvement after Ms Zafirakou started at the school.