Thank you, Elaine.

Elaine Hall has retired from her role as School Business Manager at The Grange Academy after well over two decades of service.

Mrs Hall joined what was The Grange School in August 2001 as PA/Office Manager under David Stanley’s headship, and she has served the school and community ever since.

It was only after a few months of starting at The Grange that Elaine assumed the position from which she is retiring: School Business Manager.

Mrs Hall played an indispensable role in nearly every aspect of The Grange's new building, which opened in April 2013, from negotiations, planning and logistics.

Her involvement was so varied and significant that the company that facilitated the move thought that she was an external consultant who had been drafted in to move all four schools over the two week Easter break to ensure that the new site opened on time.

In actuality, that was not Mrs Hall’s job, but it was a mark of her ‘unyielding commitment to pupils, staff and the school community.’

She also played a key role in The Grange School's academisation in 2018, by which the school subsequently became known as The Grange Academy, after joining the Wade Deacon Trust, as well as the academy's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mrs Hall has enjoyed a distinguished career, having started out as a Saturday girl at Littlewoods, then to the Department of Education and Employment and the National Lottery, before moving to the front line of education, working in schools.

Jamie Jardine, Executive Principal at The Grange Academy, commented:

“Like all schools, we have seen significant changes over the past years and decades, including our provision: becoming an all-through school, leadership personnel and our academy status.

“One constant throughout all the change has been Elaine Hall, who has embodied the very best of The Grange throughout her period of dedicated service.

“Elaine has made huge contributions and great sacrifices in order to support our pupils and staff, and indeed, the wider school community, and we are incredibly grateful for all that she has done over the past 24 years.

“On behalf of myself and everybody at The Grange Academy, we wish Elaine and her family all the very best for her retirement – she will always be welcome back home at The Grange.”