Mrs Bee – Inspiring History Teaching Awards, South East Winner
History Teacher, Mrs Bee, has won an inaugural award celebrating inspirational history teachers across the country.
Mrs Bee, who has been teaching history at Little Heath School since 2009, was named as one of ten winners in the first-ever round of Inspiring History Teaching Awards.
The awards were established by Historic Royal Palaces, an independent charity responsible for looking after treasured landmarks like the Tower of London and Kensington Palace.
They are designed to recognise teachers who make history "exciting, inclusive and meaningful", with this year's winners selected from thousands of nominations put forward by pupils, parents, and fellow teachers.
Mrs Bee, who was nominated by a past student, said that the award is "incredibly exciting" and she feels "really proud".
"I've been teaching for about 16 years so to have this recognition feels really, really special."
A final overall winner will be selected from the ten regional winners later this summer by a judging panel of big-name historians including Lucy Worsley, Greg Jenner, Sathnam Sangera, Dan Jones, Shalina Patel, Katie Hunter, and Michael Riley.
Mrs Bee said she "can't believe" she has made it this far in the awards and is very excited to meet her fellow regional winners at the star-studded judging panel.
She emphasised the role of the awards as a way to bring historians together and highlight the importance of history as a "vital" classroom subject that helps students "make sense" of the world. She was praised in the awards for her creative and engaging approach to teaching history.
Her teaching focuses on two methods to engage students, combing the power of local history as an excellent way to connect students to the past and a hands-on approach where students do their own research and build their own historical claims.
"I am incredibly passionate about getting students to do the work of historians themselves."
She said this has proven to be a great way of engaging pupils, and her students have stumbled across "some really amazing stuff" researching King Henry VIll's visits to Reading. You can find out more about this project on our website here: Henry VIII Research Project with the Historical Association
Each regional winner receives £500 for their school and £500 for themselves, rising to £1000 if they are crowned the overall winner.
We have not yet decided what we will put the prize money toward, although Mrs Bee would love to explore a wild idea to create a green space on school grounds where they could reconstruct archaeological digs.
She is "super grateful" to Historic Royal Palaces for launching the awards, adding she also wants to give a credit to her own history teachers from 20+ years ago for the role they played in inspiring her.
Listen to her interview on BBC Radio Berkshire: BBC Sounds 31 03 2026 (listen from 1hr 11m 12s)