I started at Driffield in January 2010 on a 1-year contract as a trainee IT technician. After the 12-month trainee position ended, I was offered a full time IT technician role, which was a great opportunity to further my knowledge and enhance what I’d taken from the first year. Shortly after this the school invested in frog VLE, where I was offered the position to be IT technician and lead VLE officer. During this time, I was asked to lead supporting year 11 gain their ECDL qualification where I had to independently lead 30 students who successfully passed their course.

Once Driffield School joined the Education Alliance, I was asked to design and create marketing materials such as the prospectus and flyers for events; I am proud that the templates I created are still being used today.

In 2017 an opportunity arose to apply for a 3-month secondment at South Hunsley to be the Network Manager, which was then extended to 6 months. During this time, the IT manager left and I was offered the opportunity to become the IT Manager for South Hunsley permanently, which was both daunting and exciting to lead the team and develop a network in my own vision, creating relationships with external vendors and getting to know the staff on site.

In 2019 I began the role of Trust IT Manager supporting other sites one day a week, which then lead to two days a week supporting and assisting sites within the trust. Then, in September 2020, I began the full time role of Trust IT Director, where I now oversee the provision and strategic direction of IT across the trust, assisting the on-site IT support teams, standardising approaches and merging contracts where possible.

Working in the IT support services profession is extremely unique because you are there to support user’s technical issues, whilst trying to pre-empt and prevent them. At TEAL, no two days are ever the same, but resolving an issue that’s not been straightforward is the most rewarding feeling!