JANE Stoodley, from Glastonbury, has won the British Empire Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for her 38-year role as personal assistant to seven different principals at Strode College.

She has played a vital role in ensuring continuity of standards, bene pivotal in seeing Strode attract successful Ofsted reports, been part of the ongoing development and expansion of the campus and managed the catering service and administrative team for the prison contract.

Ms Stoodley, whose para-Olympian sister, a gold and silver medal winner at the Rio Olympics holds the MBE for services to archery, said: "I came back from holiday and saw an envelope from the Cabinet Office - I thought it was a scam at first.

"When I read it I was totally gobsmacked and bowled over."

Katy Quinn, chief executive and principal at Strode College, said: "It has been a great pleasure to work closely with Jane over the past five years.

"She has been my right hand support over this period.

"Jane helped me massively in my early days to understand the background and culture of Strode.

"She really deserves this amazing accolade of the British Empire Medal as her dedication and commitment to Strode has been exemplary."