Simon Hobdell, Technical Team Lead: I've been a member of the School's Technical Support Team since 2014 and a team leader since 2017. I have worked in an ICT support environment for 30 years, having spent 26 years working in the private sector. My role within the team is to ensure schools receive an excellent service, and as a team, we provide the best possible value for money for our Support and Services. I have developed two key service offerings to enhance our support to schools: Whole School Support and O365 Account Management.

Jason Rhodes, Senior Technical Support Officer: I was seconded to the School Technical Support team in November 2016. I had previously worked for both the Corporate Support desk and the Deskside support team at BCC. Before BCC, I worked in IT support for a major international retailer for 16 years. Since joining the school's team, I have realised just how complicated a modern school's IT requirements are, no longer just a BBC micro on a trolley. I have been involved in the Sophos renewal rollout to the schools and migrating your systems to cloud-based Sophos support. We are constantly looking at other products/software we can utilise in the schools to improve your use of IT in both the teaching and Admin sides of your schools. If there are products you are interested in and would like us to investigate for you, please let us know. I look forward to helping you resolve any issues you have, and if I can’t help you, I will endeavour to find someone who can

Gareth White, Technical Support Officer: I started at BCC in September 1994 beginning life as a Youth Trainee (now Apprentice) in the SSID Team (Social Services Information Database), after which I was employed as a permanent member of staff, I then moved in to the Social Services IT Team before all of the IT Teams from each department were moved to one big IT Team where I was part of the Infrastructure support which meant sitting on the Service Desk and doing on site visits to all sorts of offices around the County fixing problems and installing new equipment. I have seen a lot of changes over the years, but I am still a part of the furniture. When the School’s Team were moving from Great Hampden back to the Council Offices, I decided I needed to change positions and a job came up in the Technical Support team, I joined in 2011 and have been part of the team ever since, where I do a lot of the site visits setting up new equipment and fixing issues with the SIMS and FMS software along with scheduling in the SIMS upgrades. Away from the office, I enjoy playing and watching football, playing golf, listening to music and watching films.

James French, Senior Support Analyst: I have been with the team since 2017, starting as an apprentice with a keen interest in computers and networking. Originally, I was a 1st line support analyst, taking phone calls and attempting to resolve IT issues remotely; over time, I have progressed, working more on the backend technical side of our systems. I have had many opportunities to get involved with different technologies, allowing me to learn about a wide variety of areas within IT. This allows me to investigate and diagnose less common issues easily, and I am frequently asked for my input on outstanding calls

James Hawkins, Technical Support Officer: I have been in the Schools Team since late 2005, when we were based in Great Hampden. I have witnessed a lot of changes since then and have gained a lot of knowledge along the way. My main area of expertise lies with the technical side of SIMS. I am a man of few words, only saying what is absolutely necessary and when outside of work, I do pretty much anything that does not involve computers.

Simon Earl, Technical Support Officer: I have been working for the Schools Team since 2006; currently I’m providing 1st line support to schools on technical matters and SIMS support issues.Over the years I have developed my knowledge on Windows operating systems, Servers, Networking and anything else that has helped me resolve the problems I have encountered. However my areas of expertise is SIMS and in software installation. I have also begun to expand into training on the Technical Essentials course, in which I cover the technical aspects of SIMS.