All of Strode College past and present are very proud that Jane Stoodley, Personal Assistant to the CEO and Principal, has been awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June 2022. The British Empire Medal is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to replace the original medal, which had been established in 1917 as part of the Order of the British Empire. 

Jane has dedicated her whole career to Strode College. During her 37 years at the college, she has been the Personal Assistant to seven different Principals. Through her passion and dedication to her role, she has inducted and supported each new Principal into the College. This has enabled a continuity of standards, culture and quality to remain. She has been pivotal to the College's success resulting in numerous highly successful Ofsted outcomes, which have never fallen below a judgement of good. Over this time, she has also been part of the ongoing development and expansion of the campus that has led to over 150,000 students successfully achieving their qualifications at Strode College. This impact is felt throughout the local community that the college serves.

Alongside providing outstanding service to each Principal, she has also led support teams across the College with the same focus and professionalism as in her Personal Assistant role. This included the management of the catering service between 2000 and 2010 and the Administrative team for the Prison contract between 1997 and 2005. She is flexible, adaptable and respected across the whole organisation. Jane is a role model for others and has consistently upheld everything that epitomises the values and culture that has made Strode such a successful College. Jane is a true ambassador and a pillar of strength within the organisation.

Over this time, Jane has developed an extensive network of stakeholder engagement. She is the first point of contact that many people have with the college and is as equally skilled at responding to local community concerns as she is coordinating and liaising with Senior Government Officials and Ministers.

Over the past 37 years, Jane has maintained an unrelenting commitment to the college, and the impact of her support to each of the 7 Principals, the respect she has across the college and her utmost professionalism has without doubt, had an undeniable, and huge impact on the success of the college over this time.

Katy Quinn, CEO and Principal at Strode College says, "It has been a great pleasure to work closely with Jane over the past 5 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."

Jane is to be presented with her medal by the Lord Lieutenant at a local ceremony and is invited to a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Getting such an accolade runs in Jane's family. Jane's sister was a para-Olympian winning a Gold and Silver medal at the Rio Olympics and received a MBE for her services to Archery.