The award, which recognises a teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession, has a prize of $1 million (about £715,000).
The 39-year-old is said to have guided youngsters from one of the poorest areas in the UK and helped pupils from a variety of backgrounds. This included learning basic greetings in many of the 35 languages spoken at the school, including Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil and Portuguese, to help parents feel welcome and included.
Ms Zafirakou, the first British teacher to be awarded the prize, paid tribute to the power of the arts after being named the winner. She says: “I was shocked. I was completely overwhelmed. I didn’t realise it was me.”
Ms Zafirakou who dedicated the award to UK teachers also says that teachers in the UK “work extremely hard.”
Asked what she will do with the prize money, she answers:
“I’m going to be patient, I’m going to reflect, but as you know I think it would be really fantastic if I could think about how the arts could be celebrated even further within our school community.”
Congratulations to her.
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