Jane Golding has been the ICT technician for a year at William Shrewsbury primary school in Stretton near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire There were 36 applicants for this post and Jane was following a hard act when she landed the job. But in just 12 months she’s got to grips with a problematic new network, persevered with temperamental printers, and helped install whiteboards in every classroom. “Jane had the x factor when we appointed her,” says Bernadette Hunter, the headteacher who was impressed by Jane’s experience in a Yorkshire primary. “She’s a great team player and works incredibly well with everyone.” William Shrewsbury, which with 650 pupils aged four to 11 is the largest primary in Staffordshire, last month won an award for excellence in ICT practice across the school from the computers-in-education body NAACE. “It’s really on a roll,” says Ms Hunter, who is full of praise too for her ICT co-ordinator, Sue Mould. It was Sue who nominated Jane for our flowers, champagne and chocolates to say thank you for achieving so much in a short time. “She came with enthusiasm and dedication, and boy did she need it. Thanks to her determination our system now seems to be behaving itself.”

Jane supports children in the ICT suite, and helps with lunchtime clubs and parent-and-child sessions after school. She’s running a course for classroom assistants, trains staff on a one-to-one basis and is studying for a degree in her own time. After half-term the local MP, Janet Dean, will visit to present the NAACE award and relaunch the school’s website (www.williamshrewsbury.staffs.sch.uk).

Is there an unsung hero in your school? Tell Sarah Bayliss, TESFriday editor, about him or her at the address below. Flowers kindly supplied by Marks amp; Spencer