A teacher who learned to greet her pupils in the 35 languages spoken at her deprived inner city school has been shortlisted for a prestigious global prize.
Andria Zafirakou, 39, was selected from thousands of applicants around the world for her work with migrant children at Alperton Community School in Brent.
The school sits in one of the poorest parts of the UK, and many of her pupils come from crowded homes shared with multiple families.
A high proportion of the pupils she teachers come from migrant families, with some of the parents still getting to grips with English.
Teacher Andria Zafirakou (pictured above, at Alperton Community School in Brent, North West London) was selected from thousands of applicants around the world for her work with migrant children
A number of her pupils have also been exposed to gang violence, with the borough having one of the highest murder rates in the country.
In an effort to build bridges within the school community, she learned the greetings for the 35 languages spoken by her pupils, so she could talk to them and their parents at the gates.
These include Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, Portuguese, Somali, Arabic, Romanian, Polish, Urdu and Italian.
Judges shortlisted her for the annual Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize after hearing about how she reached out to families in her diverse community.
Miss Zafirakou said yesterday: ‘If you have somebody who can connect with you and appreciate your background, then that’s special.’
She added that greeting someone in their language ‘helps to break down barriers and enables families to engage more in the school community’.
A spokesman for the prize said: ‘Andria has gone against the grain, taking the time to understand student lives beyond school by visiting their homes, riding with them on the bus and sometimes standing at the school gates with police officers to welcome pupils as they arrive at the start of the school day.
‘She has also learned the basic hello-and-goodbye greetings in many of the 35 languages spoken at her school, including Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil and Portuguese, to break down the barriers and crucially help in beginning to establish relationships with their parents, many of whom do not speak English.’
In an effort to build bridges within the school community, she learned the greetings for the 35 languages spoken by her pupils, so she could talk to them and their parents at the gates (pictured, Alperton Community School in Brent, North West London)
Brent has the largest proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people in England and Wales, and more than 140 languages are spoken.
As a member of the school’s senior leadership team, Miss Zafirakou redesigned the curriculum to make it ‘relevant’ to her pupil’s lives.
She helped a music teacher launch a Somali school choir and also pioneered girls-only sports so that those from conservative religious communities would be more willing to take part.
In her own arts class, she worked with an artist, Armando Alemdar, to inspire pupils to confront and draw upon their complex home circumstances.
As a result, Alperton has now been awarded specialist school status in visual arts.
Her colleagues also credit her with helping the school to win a number of awards and boost pupil performance.
Miss Zafirakou said: ‘By getting pupils to open up about their home lives, I discovered that many of my students come 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.
‘I also found that some were being forced to play truant to cook meals in the allocated time slot they were permitted to use their shared home kitchen.
‘Others could not participate in extracurricular activities after school because they had to take on parental responsibilities like collecting their brothers and sisters from other schools.
‘Discovering all this prompted me to organise additional provision within the school day and often at weekends to help students have the opportunity to progress. This included giving them access to a quiet place to do their art work, as well as time to participate in extracurricular activities.’
She is among 10 teachers in the running for a million-dollar teaching prize, which recognises an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession.
The other finalists, drawn from 30,000 entries from 173 countries, are from Turkey, South Africa, Colombia, Philippines, United States, Brazil, Belgium, Australia and Norway.
The award will be presented at a ceremony in Dubai on Sunday March 18.