Teachers have been commended for their hard work by winning a clutch of awards at a London-wide ceremony.

Diane Stanley, from Brunswick Park School, in Southgate, was given the top award for teaching assistant of the year at the London Teaching Awards ceremony on Tuesday, and four other teachers gained distinctions and commendations.

The second prize, or distinction, for secondary school teacher of the year went to Tawanda Madhlangobe, from Pavilion Study Centre, in Chandos Avenue, Whetstone.

Receiving commendations were Catherine Hold, from Chalgrove Primary School, in Chalgrove Gardens, Finchley, for special needs teacher of the year; Allan Pickering, from Woodside Park International School, in Friern Barnet Lane, for enterprise; and Stacey Ward from Northway School, in The Fairway, Mill Hill, for teaching assistant of the year.

The ceremony, at Café Royal, in Regent Street, was hosted by BBC newsreader Riz Lateef and attended by VIPs including awards founder Lord Puttnam CBE, life peer Shirley Williams and Henry Winkler, who played The Fonz in Happy Days, who wrote a series of children's books about a dyslexic boy.

Ms Stanley, 37, was among ten teachers to receive a Plato award, the Teaching Awards symbol of excellence in education, while 22 other finalists were given with engraved glass awards.

She burst into tears when she heard she had won the award, having been nominated by pupils, teachers and parents.

"I just love the job I do and was so shocked and amazed when I heard," she said.

"All I was doing was getting down and doing my job. I do it for the kids - they are what makes it matter."

Ms Stanley, who has worked at the school in Osidge Lane, Southgate, since 2000, described her role as "breaking down barriers to learning". Her job involves organising extra-curricular events and counselling pupils, but she said what she enjoyed most was "thinking outside of the box to inspire the children".

She said: "It is all about finding the children's strengths: what they enjoy and what they can do, not what they can't."

Brunswick headteacher Marian Hossell spoke in glowing terms of the senior learning mentor. She said: "She is absolutely fantastic. She has the most enormous amount of knowledge and knows every single child in the school. Everyone loves her."

Schools minister Jim Knight MP said: "These are people whose excellence is infectious and whose enthusiasm rubs off on both colleagues and students.

"We are confident they can make a big difference in ensuring that every school is a good school and that good schools become great schools."

The awards, founded in 1998 and managed by independent charity Teaching Awards Trust, are open to every school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.