Cockernhoe School governor whose family have been pupils for six generations retires after almost three decades

But her connection with the school goes back even further – six generations of her family have been pupils, including herself, her children and grandchildren.

The School, which was built on the village green, opened in 1881. Its first register records 61 pupils from surrounding hamlets. Today it has 74.

Jane started as a kitchen assistant in 1997 and progressed to cook, teaching assistant and finally HLTA – higher level teaching assistant.

And in between she immersed herself in school life – getting involved in sporting activities, residential trips, driving the minibus to swimming, theme parks and events – and even teaching maypole dancing, which she loved.

But she also paid the price: she admits she’s always been very competitive and broke a wrist and ruptured her Achilles tendon teaching netball a tad too enthusiastically.

She confesses her passion was teaching and leading RE (religious education) classes at the CofE school: “ I loved learning about different religions and sharing my knowledge with the children.”

The mother-of-three adds: “I really enjoyed working with different generations of children – it felt like they were my own. I have so many memories – both happy and sad. But it was so rewarding being able to inspire, motivate and shape the lives of the children and their families.”

Covid was challenging, but Jane believes being able to support the little learners and their parents and carers through the pandemic brought its own benefits.

She says the curriculum hasn’t changed much over the years.

She explains: “They’ve probably been used years before – education goes round in circles. There are greater expectations from schools these days but I’d say we accommodate them very well.”

Her retirement will get off to a wonderfully exciting start when she goes to Paris to watch her daughter Rachel Williams umpire hockey at the Olympics.

Jane intends to continue as a school governor and in her spare time there’ll be more visits to her children and grandchildren in Portsmouth.