Techognition Day - Friday 4 March

You may have wondered what School Technicians actually do. Techognition Day is a chance for us to introduce ourselves and promote our roles. At Glyn School, we have the following Technicians: Mr Martin (DT), Mrs Stevens (Art), Mrs Edwards (Food Technology) and a team of Science Technicians led by our Senior Science Technicians: Mr Robinson (Physics), Mrs Clark and Mrs Kelly (Chemistry), Mr Simmons and Mrs Vitzilaiou (Biology and Key Stage 3) and Mrs Thorley (Key Stage 3).  Our  primary role is to provide technical support for the numerous practicals that the students undertake. Although not all are practical lessons, there could be between 400 to 450 practical lessons a week to prepare and clear away again. Many people have the misguided idea that all we do is get a few things off the shelves and wash up!  In reality, we have many thousands of pieces of equipment and apparatus which all need supervising, cleaning, repairing and, in some cases, making. At the end of every lesson, items have to be checked, cleaned, sorted and returned to storage,  or re-issued to another lesson. We are required to keep detailed inventories of every piece of equipment, so we can lay our hands on them at a moment’s notice. Health and Safety plays a major part to ensure teachers and students can use equipment safely, and it governs everything that do.

Washing up is of course a big part of  our tasks! We like our dishwashers. Technicians play a key role in ordering and stock control and, together with Heads of Faculties, have responsibility for thousand-pound budgets. There is a high turnover of materials, such as paint, food, wood and plastics, and chemicals.

The Science Technicians have responsibility for the many chemicals which are stored securely in our Prep Room. These have to be carefully monitored, accounted for and disposed of to comply with COSHH regulations, and each year we complete a large stocktake of these chemicals and all our equipment, which takes several weeks.  Many practicals can be very time-consuming to set up if lots of solutions are required. We trial many practicals before they are sent out to lessons, and sometimes we act as demonstrators in lessons. We also have responsibility for making sure the labs are safe for students to use.

As you can see, the Technician role is a large one, requiring some very specialist skills to ensure your children have the very best practical experience. Ps. Yes, we do a lot of answering of doors for pens, glue sticks, paper and exercise books, as well!  

Mrs Clark, Science Technician