She has become an integral part of school life, from reception classroom assistant to running the cycling proficiency training but after 18 years Emma Anderson-Brown has decided to bid farewell to Wicklewood Primary School.

Affectionately known as Mrs A-B, as she thought her full name was too much for the little ones to manage, she saw all four of her children through the school, near Wymondham, joining the staff the term before her youngest started full time education.

She has taken on a wide range of roles, including midday supervisory assistant, looking after children with special needs, helping on school trips and taking the Year 3 children on their weekly swimming lessons at Wymondham College. But her main focus has always been with the youngest members of the school in reception class.

At a special assembly, where she was presented with gifts from the school and parents, children shared their thoughts about one of their favourite members of staff saying she was kind, funny, someone to go to with a problem - and had great dance moves.

Mrs A-B presented reception class with a new Noah's Ark for the children to play with and said she was planning more trips to Australia to visit her daughter Jessica and to look after her 81-year-old mother-in-law.

'I have offered to do supply work and also to help set up the new library, if they want me to,' she said.

'When I first started work here there were probably 100 children at most so it has doubled in my time with new classrooms being built.

'I have loved working with the little ones, they are so funny, and I will miss them enormously.'

Headteacher Julia Brooks said Mrs A-B was a 'real personality' around the school and the village of Wicklewood as a whole.

'She has been such a valued member of the school team,' she said. 'She has played such a significant role in this community.'