Earlier in the year eight year old Ellen Howard from Westlea School nominated her class teacher Anne Wang for a Life Time Achievement Award. Having won the regional award, Anne was invited up to London for a weekend of celebration, between 26th and 28th October, culminating in an ceremoney at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Ian Howard recounts an excellent and inspirational evening.

Ellen and I left Swindon at 4 pm on Sunday 28th October, full of excitement about the evening ahead. On leaving the M4 we ventured further into Central London and being a Sunday evening the traffic was lighter than a week day. I was delighted to be able to park on the street outside the Ritz in Piccadily for free! After a short tube journey we arrived outside the theatre. The BBC were there to cover the event and with the cameras and lights standing by it could well have been the Oscars!

Suddenly a procession of award winners came along the street and into the theatre. It was then that we met with Mrs Wang. She told us all about the weekend with it's lunches, workshops and opportunities for the winners to meet and exchange stories.

Inside the theatre we were shown to our seats. The theatre is very grand and a fitting venue for the awards. Gradually the seats filled with teachers and dignitaries alike. The education minister, Estelle Morris, sat amongst the teachers (rather appropriate I felt), Professor Ted Wragg ( a leading light amongst teachers if only for his column in the Times Educational Supplement) and many others.

TV personality Carol Smiley was the compare for the evening and she performed very well, making every one at ease and linking the parts of the presentations. Celebreties were wheeled on to make the presentations including Michael Parkinson, Alistair McGowern, Sol Campbell, Sue Johnston and Ralph Finnes.

The evening went very quickly with the ten awards given out and some excellent speeches made. Teachers rarely get the national stage to speak their minds and some pointed remarks were made as well as the usual thank yous. Mrs Wang did not win in her category, neither did the two teachers from Swindon's Kingsdown School. However, this was not important as they had already been recognised by being there. There was one Wiltshire winner, Mrs Josephine Adlard from St Martins CE VA Infant School in Salisbury, who won the Learning Assistant of the year Award.

Reflecting on this awards ceremony as a teacher I must say how inspired I was by them. It is so easy to be cynical about our achievements as teachers as we are there for the children and not ourselves. Outsiders may say the often heard "Well it's a vocation isn't it?"

But we need appreciation as much as anyone else and this is especially true after a generation of bashing and undervaluing from governments. We need to see that we are very skilled workers who hold a key position in the next generation of young adults. I was inspired to try new and radical things that I had seen work in other parts of the country. But above all, I will now look for opportunities to put forward colleagues inside teaching and others in different jobs, for awards that will affirm all that they try to do and aspire those around them to even greater things.