Meet Shannon Smith

I love seeing the students' excitement when they see me preparing for a practical or when they realise they're going to do a practical lesson. When I was a student, I loved a practical lesson but hated taking part in dissections! Now, I go into every Year 8 class and help students take part in them. When we are dissecting eyes, it's so fascinating to see them all dive right in end enjoy discovering something like that!

At school, I studied the usual GCSE subjects like maths, English, and science. For my options, I chose to study geography, history, and food technology. I didn’t do as well as my predicted grades. I’m autistic and was predicted higher grades but in exam conditions, I struggle to get what I’ve learnt down on paper. So, I re-took my GCSEs, added in health and social care, and replaced the sciences for a BTEC as that didn’t have exams, just coursework. Everything went better the second time round apart from my English, I didn’t give up though and kept re-taking it throughout my A-Levels (science, business and IT) in years 12 and 13 and then passed on my 6 th exam, I was so happy I screamed out loud! During school, I was also in the Girl Guides and I did the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and I still volunteer with Girl Guides now.

I’m the only science technician in the school, and I work closely with the science team. Being included in department meetings and group emails makes me feel part of the team. It’s nice when the team checks in with me to see if I’m alright or offers to help with things like sorting out cover or practical clashes, we all work together and help each other out when needed.

I use maths skills a lot and the job has helped me improve these skills. For the practical classes, I have to be organised and do a lot of planning. We’re quite a small school, so I need to make sure there aren’t equipment clashes and change plans around if needed. I also need to think and act quickly, especially if safety is at risk. Attention to detail is really important when setting up equipment, you need to be very precise and make sure everything is measured out equally and is totally safe before it goes out for a lesson.

My weighing scales. I have my own scales which are super quick and always with me, I use them for everything!

Passing my apprenticeship was a big achievement. I graduated at the Royal Society of Chemistry building in London and was asked to give a talk about my experience as a school technician, since I was the only one in my group working in education. It was nerve wracking but I did it!

Since lockdown, I've also built up quite a following on X (Twitter), which I’m proud of. It has raised a lot of awareness about my work as a technician. Now I'm even part of a company's influencer scheme where I get sent equipment to promote and share online.

Don’t worry about exam results because they’re not the answer to everything. You will get there in the end!