Leeann has worked within IT for over 30 years, she has spent 25 of those years working within the council under different job titles before settling into the schools team where she has been for the past 15 years working as a Manager. She really enjoys working in the educational sector and has gotten to know the schools staff over many years.
She is heavily involved with the “Wellbeing Initiative” in the council and runs regular dancercise classes and quizzes for the council staff. Outside of work Leeann also runs a Sunday school and enjoys any form of exercise. She loves travelling and going on holiday anywhere that she can. She won the “Judith Chalmers Award” in the team. Most weekends Leeann is away in her big grey van with her husband and lovely little dog Cookie.
Julie has been working in IT for over 30 years. Whilst at a mobility store chain she started taking care of the backups and using databases and accounting software.
A Network Engineer at West Cheshire College after being taken on straight after Diplomas. A few years in the SIMS Team then at a local high school in Chester and back to the SIMS Team. So she has seen both sides in the Educational setting.
She has been the Vice-Chair of the SIMS Northern User Group for many years and attends the National SIMS Advisory Group.
Outside of work, Julie likes hanging out with her 2 pugs and spending time with family.
Lauren has been a part of Cheshire East council for 4 years but a part of local authority for 10 years. Lauren started off as a Breakfast and Afterschool club supervisor in a welsh medium primary school part time while studying at university and went into full time employment as a Receptionist in Wrexham Council. She has a BSc(Hons) Computer Networks and Security Degree and now works within the SIMS team completing upgrades/End of Years etc. RBUSS installations and maintenance as well as maintaining the website are her little hobbies outside of SIMS related tasks.
In her spare time she loves spending time with her family and friends, especially her crazy, smiley one year old son who finds her hilarious. She’s partial to a Disaronno and coke and a massive Disney/Marvel film fanatic.
Elaine has been interested in technology since her dad had an Amiga 1200 when she was 10. She used to help him edit wedding videos on it. She gained an A level in ICT systems and went on to achieve a first class BSc (Hons) Business Information Technology degree. As part of her degree, she had a placement year supporting the ICT systems in a college in Walsall. She really enjoyed the placement so went on to work for Verdin High School in Winsford for 2 years and has now been part of our Schools team for 16 years.
Outside of work she is running around after her 2 young boys (and husband) and if there is a glimpse of spare time she loves to paint, draw, bake cakes and drink cocktails.
Jodie has been fixing computers since she left school at 16, went into a YTS Trainee Scheme in IT Support, got a job contracting for a few years, then finally into the council. She has been with the Schools ICT Team for 21 Years, she has worked with many wonderful staff at the schools that she has supported over the years.
Outside of work she owns 6 horses, 3 dogs, 1 cat and a very old fairground goldfish called Mr Chips. She enjoys going to dog obedience and agility shows with her rescue dogs Megan, Susie and Luna. She is a Team Manager for the local riding club which takes her all over the country at weekends supporting them and being chief cheerleader. She is also on 2 committees for Macclesfield Riding Club and Danesford Dog Obedience Club. She usually has got some sort of funky colour rainbow hair so you can’t miss her.
Tracey started life off as a Research Biochemist but switched to IT in 1991 and swapped her lab coat for computers. She was implementing hospital and business IT systems for several years before joining the SIMS team in 2001. She has worked with Schools for over 20 years including nearly 8 years as a Data Manager at Bishop Heber High School. Tracey became a Happy Retiree at the end of 2020, Leeann however persuaded her to return to the Helpdesk part time temporarily in 2021 and has been here off and on ever since.
Outside of work, Tracey spends most of her time outdoors with her gardening projects, walking and running mostly up steep hills as she lives by the very scenic Sandstone Trail.
Dean started at Cheshire County Council in 2004 at the grand age of 18 as a Modern apprentice within the ICT department at Backford Hall, from there he was employed by CCC as a field engineer. While at CCC Dean also got employed by CWAC providing 1st and 2nd line for the service desk, he then left the service desk after two years and started working for the schools team and been here since. Dean has always had a passion for technology from a young age.
Outside of school Dean enjoys health and fitness, gardening and is a Marvel geek.
Paul has been working in ICT for over 25years. He was the ICT Manager for a local water engineering firm for a number of years before joining the council in 2006. Initially employed as a contractor, working as a field engineer on numerous LA projects, he joined the schools team in 2014 after Leeann spotted his talents.
Outside of work, Paul is very happily married, has 3 sons and 3 grandchildren. He also enjoys/endures attending live sports, namely Everton FC, Widnes Vikings & Cheshire Phoenix.
Peter has been a part of Cheshire East Council within the schools team for 21 years. He has even taken the initiative to work three days a week whilst he enjoys retirement for the other 2 days. He is originally from Lancashire, and then studied in University in London.
Outside of work, he has various hobbies which include walking, swimming and sailing. Peter is also happily married and has just celebrated his 20 year Anniversary.
John started out in IT as an Modern Apprentice at Mid Cheshire College in 1998, supporting the various Academic Subject Team Admin Offices (MIS). He gained full time employment with MGL (MerseyGrid) in 2001 working in Primary and High Schools in Liverpool & Wirral. John then went on to support Tarporley High School as Senior ICT Support. John has gained invaluable ICT Skills working for CARA Technology in Macclesfield in 2004 as an ICT Field Engineer. John has worked for Martin Dawes installing TV’s in customers homes and RedTop ICT services supporting local Cheshire Schools with Anti Virus setups and PC / laptop repairs.
John has been with the Cheshire Schools ICT Team since 2006.
Outside of employment John likes tea, hill walking in the Peak District, tea, football, tea & more tea.
Steve has been working in Educational ICT support since 2004. He started off working for the Flintshire ICT Unit, then went on to work as a high school Network Manager. He then started working in Wrexham Council schools ICT Team and finally settled within Cheshire East schools team since 2012.
Outside of work Steve enjoys hiking, gardening, walking his dog, Film and TV.
Dan started working for the Schools Team straight out of college in 2005 after studying programming/web design. He applied for an “Office” job to get out of retail and has ended up being a part of the schools team for 17 very enjoyable years. Dan says that from a young age he always knew that he would either end up doing Sports or IT. however as Dan likes to say “My love of Food and Beer put a swift end to the former.”
Outside of work Dan enjoys gaming, football, golf and has a growing love for Craft Beer. Dan currently lives at home with his wife, who he’s been married to for 8 Years and his 2 Cats – Penny and Chewwy (Named after Penny from The Big Bang Theory and Chewbacca from Star Wars).
Joe started with the council in July 2015 fresh out of school as a modern apprentice with CWAC and CEC. He started as an apprentice within Hosting and Network Services before moving onto a permanent role within the ICT Service Desk. After a couple of years on the service desk, Joe has been a Technical Desktop Field Engineer in schools since 2019.
Joe lives in North Wales with his partner and Labradoodle (Hugo) and spends his time following Wrexham AFC home and away.
Matthew has 10 years of experience in Educational ICT support. He started as an ICT technician at a High School after completing a Masters Degree in Information Systems. Matthew also has a degree in Computer Science. He has been with the team since 2015.
Matthew Lives in Cheshire West with his partner and dog. He enjoys running, cycling and fitness boot camps. He is currently training for the Chester Marathon and a 50 Mile run next year.
Barry has been involved in many areas of IT over the years or how Barry likes to put it “more years than I care to remember”, however he has spent the last enjoyable 8 years working with the SIMS team.
He has been married for over 40 years and has two amazing children and two loveable grandchildren. Barry has always stuck to the philosophy that “growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.”
James has been in educational ICT support since 1999.
He started off as a Desktop Assistant at Yale College, then Network Manager at Queens Park High School, Network Manager at the Kings School (Chester), IT desktop support at Denbighshire Council and finally Technical Desktop Field Engineer with Cheshire East Council.
James lives in North Wales with his family and spends all his spare money buying and fixing old cars!
Tom has over twenty two years of IT experience including supporting companies, councils and schools. Before working in IT he worked as a postman for fourteen years. Tom has been a part of the SIMS team for the last 3 years.
Away from work Tom has four children and three grandchildren, is a keen cook and his favourite cuisine is Mediterranean. Tom also brews his own beer and wine whilst also enjoying holidaying and cycling. As Tom likes to say “for my sins” is an Aston Villa supporter.
Mark has been in the Schools team over 15 years, before that he provided IT support for a charity for several years. He became interested in computers in the early 90s through editing media and embracing new technology and that’s still what interests him today.
Mark lives on the Wirral with his family. He is very geeky with the film and TV he watches, loves to listen to music and plays bass and guitar (very badly).