AN INSPIRATIONAL teacher has scooped a top prize for her educational efforts.

Kathleen Holton, head of languages at Argoed High School in Mynydd Isa, was awarded a distinction in the Becta Award for Next Generation Learning category in the Teaching Awards 2010.

Mrs Holton, from Dodleston near Chester, travelled down to City Hall in Cardiff with her family for the awards ceremony.

She told the Leader: “All the finalists were invited down to Cardiff so we knew we were getting some sort of award, but it was a question of what type I would get.

“When they said I’d got a distinction I was so pleased.

“All my pupils were clapping and cheering when they heard I was coming to Cardiff.”

The award recognises how teachers use technology creatively.

Mrs Holton, 57, has been teaching at the Argoed for 32 years.

A school spokesman said: “She has always been a highly motivated, enthusiastic and dedicated modern foreign languages teacher.”

The winners picked up their awards from TV presenter Sian Lloyd and Henry Winkler, who played the ‘Fonz’ in the late 1970s American cult TV sitcom, Happy Days.

Caroline Evans, chief executive of the Teaching Awards, said: “This is an exciting day for individuals who have been recognised and rewarded.

“Congratulations to them all and to their schools where the brilliance rubs off.”