Team of the Year
Findel – Customer Experience Team
The Customer Experience Team at Findel is the driving force behind the organisation’s market‑leading reputation for service across the education sector. Made up of dedicated colleagues in Customer Service, Accounts Receivable, Telephone Sales, Customer Experience and Insight, the team brings exceptional expertise, with many members serving over two decades. This depth of experience creates a culture rooted in care, consistency, and genuine connection to customers.
Their commitment to excellence is reflected in outstanding advocacy from schools, nurseries, and educators across the UK and internationally, who frequently praise the team for being helpful, knowledgeable and consistently going above and beyond. Initiatives such as the Customer Delight programme demonstrate the team’s passion for creating memorable experiences; from thoughtful gestures to proactive support that exceeds expectations.
Beyond day‑to‑day service, the team leads Customer Connections Count, a business‑wide programme that strengthens customer understanding across all roles, and produces the Educ8 insights newsletter to keep the organisation closely aligned to sector trends. The team also actively supports local schools and charities through volunteering and community initiatives, reflecting Findel’s values in action.
The Customer Experience Team exemplifies what it means to be customer‑centred, values‑driven, and relentlessly committed to raising standards across the industry.
Learn French With Alexa
At Learn French With Alexa, our team is proof of the effectiveness of close collaboration and of taking everyone’s ideas, suggestions and values into account. Each of us is involved to some extent in each company process, from content creation and planning to marketing and customer support and outreach. We’re actively involved in our community, providing tireless support and direction for thousands of paying customers each year, as well as our millions of followers across social media and YouTube. And that’s one reason why over the past year we’ve nearly doubled our number of testimonials on Trustpilot, with an average score of 4.8 stars across 583 reviews, a rating unparalleled in the world of online French education.
We’ve exceeded targets year on year, with 2025 seeing our best fiscal performance, thanks to the energy and innovation that come as a result of attentive teamwork and mutual support. 2026 is off to a strong start, and as a team we look forward to another year of growth and innovation.
myHappymind
myHappymind is a purpose-driven team on a mission to give every child the tools to thrive mentally and emotionally for life. Founded in 2016 with four people, the organisation has grown to 31, scaling impact without compromising the values and culture that define it.
The team is united by a single, passionate belief: that every child deserves to thrive mentally and emotionally. Today that belief reaches more than 2,000 schools across the UK, equipping children, teachers and families with the tools to build resilience, confidence and emotional literacy.
Behind this impact is a collaborative, values-led culture shaped by our BRICKS values, guiding how we work, support one another and deliver impact every day.
Many team members are former teachers whose lived experience informs everything from product design to customer support. As a certified B Corp, we place equal importance on wellbeing and performance, offering flexible working, structured development pathways, private healthcare and an annual pro bono fund empowering every employee to drive social impact.
Recognised with the King’s Award for Innovation, Bett Transformational Impact Award, BESA Evidence Impact Award and The Times Best Places to Work 2025, the myHappymind team remains united by one shared passion: transforming children’s mental health.
Orso Publishing – In-House Content Team
Orso’s content team has fast become a secret weapon behind some of the best and most widely-used learning resources being made today.
Our small but talented team of multimedia specialists, comprised entirely of academically trained STEM specialists, uses a non-hierarchical and collaborative approach to ensure we get the best out of every project, no matter the size or complexity.
Whether it’s writing, animating and producing award-winning videos for BBC Bitesize, or collaborating with White Rose Education to deliver an ambitious and game-changing cross-specification GCSE curriculum, the same things remain true – we put the client’s needs at the forefront and we go out of our way to do things right first time, every time.
Rethink Maths – Founding Team
Rethink Maths was founded in 2025 by six experienced education leaders who made the bold decision to leave secure senior roles to build a new organisation dedicated to improving mathematics education.
Led by Caroline Hamilton and Tony Staneff, the team also includes Mary-Kate Connolly, James Lansdale-Clegg, Kate Henshall and Kat Martin. Every member has taken a significant personal risk because of their shared passion for mathematics education.
The team works around five core missions: Foundations, Confidence, Inclusion, Real-world and Teaching, underpinned by shared values of kindness, hard work, collaboration, integrity and excellence.
In its first year, the team set ambitious targets for revenue, funding and community engagement. Within eight months of launching, Rethink Maths significantly exceeded these goals, demonstrating strong demand for its work and building a rapidly growing community of engaged educators. The organisation has also secured contracts with the Victorian Department of Education in Australia and funding from The Richmond Project to trial an innovative early mathematics programme designed to strengthen children’s number understanding from the earliest stages of education.
Through deep collaboration, inclusive design and innovative development methods, the team is delivering high-quality mathematics solutions that support teachers and improve outcomes for learners globally.
Robin Education
Robin is an AI‑powered website compliance and policy audit tool for schools and trusts. It removes a time‑consuming, error‑prone administrative burden – giving staff back time, confidence and control.
Launched in June 2024, Robin has scaled rapidly: 180 MATs now subscribe (that’s 2,300+ schools) saving on average 40 hours per school, per year.
Behind this is a small, but highly experienced team of ten, with deep sector knowledge from The Key, GovernorHub, Arbor and volunteering as governors or trustees. This shared understanding of the pressures schools and trusts face has shaped a product – and a partnership model – that genuinely meets the sector’s needs.
Together the team has:
- Exceeded their targets across growth, retention and customer satisfaction
- Delivered continuous innovation that directly improves outcomes for schools
- Created a culture of collaboration and relentless customer focus
- Earned exceptional testimonials that consistently praise not just the product, but the people behind it
Most importantly, Robin has changed how schools manage compliance: saving time, reducing workload and giving leaders confidence and clarity.
“Robin isn’t just a great product; it’s a great team delivering meaningful change for schools.” Director of Operations, Advance Learning Partnership
stylus
stylus is a team of twelve – half of whom are qualified teachers – that has built and scaled an AI-powered writing assessment service from concept to market leader in under eighteen months. Now serving over 110 schools across 30 multi-academy trusts, the team’s cross-functional approach organises work around six missions rather than departments, meaning everyone contributes to the whole picture.
Two defining moments illustrate the team’s character. First, the MATPN conference: offered the headline slot previously held by Google with six weeks’ notice, the entire team mobilised to deliver a full rebrand, a working product prototype, and a keynote that generated 41 trust expressions of interest before the CEO left the stage. Second, the Easter wave: when those trusts converted simultaneously, every team member shifted roles to manage record volumes – 6,807 papers in seven weeks – while maintaining quality standards and delivering a major product improvement that reduced human editing by 70%.
The team holds two DfE Contracts for Innovation, BESA Startup of the Year 2025, and three BETT 2026 shortlists. As one team member puts it: “Humanity centred, not tech centred. All hands on deck and working for each other.”
The Literacy Company
The Literacy Company is a collaborative and highly skilled team dedicated to improving literacy outcomes for schools across the country. We combine deep curriculum expertise with innovative product development, delivering high‑quality programmes, consultancy and training that strengthen teaching and build staff confidence. This year we supported more schools than ever, reflecting the impact of our work and the trust placed in our team.
We expanded our digital tools, strengthened our subscription model and enhanced customer experience, ensuring our resources remain practical, clear and responsive to the needs of teachers and pupils. Our work is grounded in evidence, supported by new research partnerships with the Education Endowment Foundation and Oxford Measure Ed and shaped by continuous school feedback.
Our team has delivered impact at scale, including an 18‑month Department for Education contract in Halton that led to measurable improvements in teaching practice, pupil outcomes and whole‑school consistency. We also demonstrated exceptional adaptability when severe weather required a major LA wide training event to be redesigned and delivered online within 24 hours.
We invest in our people through expanded roles, professional development and a culture of trust. This ensures we remain forward‑thinking, motivated and able to support schools with clarity and confidence.