A SHERFIELD woman has picked up a gong in the Queen’s birthday honours.

Teacher Marion Cornick has been made an MBE for services to special education having been involved in the specialist area of education since 1961.

She is the founder, past principal and current chairman of trustees of The Loddon School in Sherfield-on-Loddon.

Marion’s commitment to ensuring a"high quality of life for all" culminated in 1988 when the closure of an old school provided her with the opportunity to personally lease the building from another trust and she started a school to provide for children who were not catered for at that time.

Having a firm belief in providing an holistic, positive approach for the care and education of every child in the school, Marion researched positive behaviour support.

PROACT-SCIPr-UK was one of the first organisations to gain BILD accreditation in 2002 and promoted a change in emphasis from reactive to proactive strategies.

In 2008, Loddon Training & Consultancy was formally established by Marion as a business unit within the charity to support this dissemination of knowledge.

Marion’s work has also spread abroad and she supports, and offers training to the teachers in a school in Zambia.

On the news of being honoured in the list, Marion said: “I am extremely pleased that the work that the school has accomplished for children with autism and severe complex needs has been recognised.”

Marion’s work at the Loddon School, establishing itself as both home and school for children with the most complex of special needs and autism, has been a pioneering approach where education and care are delivered in a proactive, positive and therapeutic environment.

Thirty students aged eight-19 annually, and scores of other schools and providers, benefit from her lifetime commitment to education.

Marion also created Liaise Loddon Ltd, a company devoted to the support of adults in the community, providing a continuity of the same philosophy of care and education found at the school.

The Loddon School statement read: “Staff, trustees, students and parents are delighted that Marion has been honoured in the Queen’s birthday list.”