Anne Wang with children from her class who took part in the City Parade on 21 July as a walking rainforest

Westlea School year two teacher Anne Wang won the regional National Teaching Lifetime Achievement Award in July and goes through to the national finals in the Autumn. Fay and Ian Howard and their daughters Jessie and Ellen explain why they nominated her.

We believe Mrs Wang deserves recognition for all she puts into education; she has been teaching for 36 years, the last fourteen at Westlea. She still has drive and enthusiasm at constant levels, and these shine out to the children.

She is patient and fair, each child is accepted and each achievement valued. Westlea School and Mrs Wang do well with their SATS results, but the wider education the children receive is just as valuable.

Every morning her class discuss the newspaper headlines. We love the fact that the children learn about the world, artists, music, nature, and grow in confidence. They like having sparklers on their birthday; anything they can share is important and they are valued as individuals.

As Jessie 9, and Ellen, 7, told us, "she is always excited about everything. She always listens to you and is interested in what you say. Each day when you get to school you think it will be a normal day; Mrs Wang then decides to go on a litter pick up or to feed the birds. She cares about nature and teaches you to care about nature too."

Their year with Mrs Wang will stay with them forever and we are pleased that through this award all she has achieved has been recognised. She now goes through to the final on 28 October, to be shown on TV in early November. She is a very special person.