Crime-busting super teacher who won $1m
SCHOOL’S out at the end of a busy day but art and textiles teacher Andria Zafirakou, 39, still has plenty to do. Alperton Community School is in Brent, north London, a troubled borough with the second-highest murder rate in the country and aggressive gangs are a constant threat to its pupils.
But Andria is nothing if not vigilant. Having helped children board buses outside the school gates she is soon pacing a nearby street, walkie-talkie in hand. She stops to quiz a policeman about some teenage boys she has just seen entering a takeaway.
“Chris,” she says, “do you know those?” Eyes scanning the street, she adds: “I’ve just seen some unfamiliar boys that are a bit dodgy, perhaps. I’m just making sure they are not after or with our students.”
Such informal patrols are all in a day’s work for Andria but they have made her a target of gang members, who regularly swear at her and make threats.
But this mother of two daughters remains fearless in pursuit of improving the lives of the 1,400 children at Alperton, one of the UK’s most deprived and racially diverse inner-city secondary schools, with 85 per cent of its students having English as a second language.
Last Sunday Andria’s dedication saw her win $1million (£700,000) when she was named the world’s best teacher in a contest that attracted 30,000 candidates from 137 countries.
The decision led to wild cheering in the corridors of her school which had opened specially to allow pupils, teachers and parents to watch as the ceremony was beamed live from Dubai. They looked on as Andria was presented with the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize by the emirate’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum.
As gold confetti rained down on her, Andria described her community in Brent as “beautifully diverse” and asserted her belief that “whatever your troubles you have the right to succeed in whatever you want to do – a right no one can take away from you”.
IN ONE of the first interviews after her win Andria, who aspires to become a head teacher, adds: “The safety of our children is the most important thing and we need to protect them at all costs. The gangs are there to target our students.
“It’s quite intimidating and obviously they don’t like to be told to move on. I’ve been threatened before. They have been quite aggressive. You can’t let that come through the school gates. We have to make sure we are protecting our students at all costs.”
Born and raised in the UK to a Cypriot mother and a Greek father, she dreamt of becoming a teacher from a young age and she describes the arts as “powerful subjects” that enable children to “safely express themselves and connect with their identity”.
Her determination to tackle the gang culture blighting the lives of her students is just one aspect of her unique approach to supporting children living in extremely challenging circumstances.
Because of the large migrant population in her borough she has learned basic greetings in many of the 35 languages spoken in the school, including Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil and Portuguese. Thanks to her efforts, Alperton is now within the top five per cent of schools in the UK in terms of qualifications and accreditations.
Whether it’s encouraging refugee children to open up through the healing power of art, setting up clubs to build self-esteem, redesigning the curriculum, riding on the bus with children or visiting their families at home, her solutions are often unconventional.
A boxing club might seem beyond the remit of an art teacher but for Andria it is just another way to instil confidence.
“Come on! Hit her, hit her, hit her,” she exhorts two teenage girls wearing boxing gloves in the school hall. “Be nice and clear with your instructions. Good girl.”
She explains: “I introduced the boxing club because it’s another way to channel some of that steam in a safe and controlled way which will hopefully prevent them from doing it outside of school. It enables them to have a great time, really getting physical, growing their self-esteem and their confidence. This also helps them not being out on the streets in the evening.”
She assisted a music teacher in launching a Somali school choir and created alternative timetables to allow girls-only sports that would not offend conservative communities. A girls’ cricket team went on to win the prestigious McKenzie Cup.
Andria Zafirakou talks about the caring and innovative approach that made her the first Briton to be named the world’s best educator
BY encouraging pupils to open up about their home lives, she discovered that many came from crowded homes where multiple families share a single property. “In fact it’s often so crowded and noisy I’ve had students tell me they have to do their homework in the bathroom just to grab a few moments alone so they can concentrate,” she says.
She found that some were being forced to play truant to cook meals in the time slot they were permitted to use their shared home kitchen. Others could not participate in extra-curricular activities because they had to take on parental responsibilities for younger children.
All this prompted her to organise additional provision within the school day and often at weekends to help students have an opportunity to progress.
Andria will receive the prize money in instalments over 10 years and there is a condition that she stays in teaching for the next five years. But nothing could persuade her to do anything else and she already knows how she is going to spend the money: on her students.
“Yes of course,” she said from Dubai. “Maybe projects working with other artists, other musicians and seeing where we can really take creativity to another level.”
In her art classes she has already worked with an “artist in residence” to redesign the curriculum to promote inspiration and help pupils confront and cope with the responsibilities of their complex home circumstances. Art, she says, has provided “a sanctuary” for her students.
“We know that children who spend more time on the arts can become more successful at the rest of their studies too. They are often the first subjects to be cut,” she points out. “This is so wrong. The arts teach students how to think creatively which will be important when they leave school. They also teach resilience and that perseverance can pay off.”
Andria’s head teacher Gerard McKenna describes her as an “absolutely remarkable” teacher: “She does a fantastic job in the classroom and will go the extra mile. She will do whatever she can to help.”
For her part, Andria says: “My calling in life is to make sure that every single child reaches their full potential, that I unlock that, and that whatever it is that they need to achieve I make it happen for them. What is amazing is that whatever issues they are having at home, whatever is missing from their lives or causing them pain, our school is theirs.
“I know that if our school could open at 6am there would be a queue of children waiting outside. That’s how phenomenal they are. I absolutely love what I do. I can’t imagine any other job. They are my kids.”