Celebrating our 2025 World Teachers' Day winners
To celebrate the important work our teachers do, we ran a competition asking them to tell us about their best teaching experience. We received so many inspiring submissions from teachers across Queensland. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter the competition.
What's in store for our winners?
Each winner will get a $1,150 prize pack which includes a:
- $150 Coles Myer gift card for themselves
- $1,000 Officeworks gift card for their school to support student education.1
Congratulations to our 8 winners!
| Name | School | Region | Best teaching experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jennifer Jones | Kuranda District State College | Far North Queensland | I had taken a gamble and asked a student with selective mutism who had begun to speak a little to introduce our class carol. She agreed! She walked onto the stage, paused then said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we will sing Jingle Bells.” Her mother hadn’t heard her speak in public before and her tears of joy told me that I made a difference. |
| Katie Huggard | Gainsborough SS | South East | I once taught a boy who, that year, lost his dad. Years later, his sister told me he had become a teacher, because, in that painful year, my classroom was his safe place. This made me realise the quiet truth: teaching shapes lives, even when we don’t see it. |
| Amanda Power | Clinton State School | Central Queensland | A Prep complained about something in his shoe. I expected a sock. We pulled it off, tapped the shoe on the ground - and out plopped a frog! Screams, laughter, total chaos. He just shrugged and I said, “Guess he wanted to come to school.” Teaching Prep: always full of surprises. |
| Misha Naik | Brisbane Central State School | Metropolitan North | During a spelling test, a student proudly wrote “hippopotamus” correctly - but spelled their own name wrong on the top of the page. When I pointed it out, they said, “Well, my name’s not in the dictionary, so it’s trickier!” The whole class erupted in giggles. |
| Arthur Henden | Heatley Secondary College | North Queensland | I once taught fractions using pizza slices. A kid shouted, “So if I eat half, that’s math?” Another replied, “I’m a math genius - I’ve been eating halves forever!” We accidentally created a class of hungry mathematicians. Lesson learned: pizza solves more problems than I do! |
| Samantha Bollard | Coolum Primary School | North Coast | The time my beautiful little dancers (extracurricular activity) continued to dance on stage when the music stopped and proceeded to finish the dance to an exceptionally appreciative crowd would have to be one of my most favourite ‘goosebump’ moments! They deservedly received the Judges Choice Award. |
| Lauren Wilson | Gumdale State School | Metropolitan South | My best teaching moment was when a science experiment exploded. Instead of panic, my students turned it into a full investigation. It reminded me that the best learning often comes from curiosity, laughter, and a little bit of chaos. |
| Kara Keenan | Highfields State School | Darling Downs South West | When a young student felt self-conscious about a scar, Mrs. Keenan gently led a class discussion about how our differences make us special. She shared her own scar, helping the student feel proud of hers - later telling her mum, “Mrs. Keenan has a scar too!” and smiling with confidence. |
1. Refer to the World Teachers' Day 2025 terms and conditions for details.
