Tributes paid to Telford Senior School Administrator
Pupils, members of staff, governors, parents and carers at Windmill Primary School and Children’s Centre in Telford have been remembering their Senior School Administrator, Mrs Toni Andrews, this week, who passed away on Saturday 25 February.
Mrs Andrews was 65 years old and had worked at the school for over 35 years, when it was originally Brookside Middle School, then Brookside Primary School, before amalgamating with Brindleyford Primary to become Windmill in 2006.
Pupils and members of staff gathered together for a special school assembly on Monday morning led by Mr Mark Gibbons, Acting Headteacher at the school and a tribute area has been set up in the school’s entrance foyer. Plans to establish a permanent memorial to Mrs Andrews are already in motion. A new ‘friendship space’ will be created outside the main pedestrian entrance to the school site, featuring a large scale windmill.
Mr Gibbons explained: “This area will be dedicated to Toni. Friendship and warmth are important things she stood for. She had a wonderful ability to make people feel special.”
Ms Alison Lamputt is Windmill’s Headteacher, currently on secondment as a School Improvement Adviser with Telford & Wrekin Council: “Toni was so proud of her school. She was loved by all of us and we would all testify to having experienced her warmth and positivity. She served the school tirelessly and enthusiastically and is already sorely missed.”
Mrs Sarah Merrick, Chair of Governors, said that Mrs Andrews was irreplaceable: “Toni was unique. She brought something to our school that money can’t buy. She helped to define who we are.”
The photograph opposite shows the school’s entrance foyer, where tributes have been placed. One child wrote: ‘When I did a little job for Mrs Andrews, she always used to give me a hug or a kiss and it felt like she was a part of the family.’
