"There's something about the teen spirit - it's a vibe and an energy that you get from young people," she said.

Ms Lofts was one of 12 Australian teachers to be awarded a Commonwealth Bank teaching fellowship for her efforts revolutionising the curriculum at her school.

"We unpack our curriculum with projects," she said.

"It's not about teaching to the test, we're not into teaching for the test, it's about developing those real-world skills the kids will need - group work, collaboration, creative problem solving.

"We want to make things and do things that are useful to others - the audience isn't the teacher, it's the wider community.

"It creates higher engagement because it's more meaningful, it's more personal." 

She said she was humbled to be recognised for her efforts, but more needed to be done to recognise the work of teachers.

"There are another 2000 people who could have got this award," she said. 

"It's about the deep work that's being done in our schools. We have phenomenal teachers in our community.

"The fact that I'm female, the fact that I'm not a sports star, but I've got an Australian award - we should elevate that, and we don't in our culture."

She hopes to use the award to radically change the school day.

"Everyone has an opinion about what schools should look like, but we have to trust teachers, who know kids and who know learning," she said.

"Some people think education is just about an A-grade - that's good, but we shouldn't just be judged on that. I feel really strongly about it.

"The money for the award comes into the school, and I'll be working with our future focus team about what the school day will look like.

"I want to investigate reducing the school day but offering supplemental activities around that.

"I'm going to travel to Finland, Canada and some of those high performing places to look at exemplar systems and bring them back."