Teaching assistant Review

At Rutherford House School, I support teachers and help children with their educational and social development, both inside and outside of the classroom. This is mostly done with interventions and creating suitable methods to improve the level of a child’s education. As a Learning Support Assistant, my main role involves me providing support for pupils with SEN (special educational needs). I ensure that these students can fully integrate and progress as much as possible in lessons and activities.

Additionally, this job has given me the chance to use my skills and passion through club enrichment opportunities. I teach netball, arts and crafts and music club; as well as leading mindfulness, well-being and social-skills sessions. This opportunity has allowed me to learn new skills and share my enjoyment of skills I already possess.

I enjoyed my program a lot it was challenging for me at first but I had a good support system within my school to help me to gain all the knowledge and experience I needed to progress within my apprenticeship. The apprenticeship option was enjoyable as it allowed time for on the job training aside from written modules.

Organisation and structure within my program was not to the best standard it honesty could’ve been. One main factor being that it was during Covid so not all procedures went ahead like they normally would have for instance my tutor sessions were on zoom and this was an inconvenience for me when doing my program.

Luckily for me I had a good support system within my placement. My employer was very helpful when things needed to be adjusted and generally supporting with help throughout my apprenticeship. This support included catch up meetings and having a designated person within my placement for me to refer to with any problems.

I received a fair amount of support from my training provider when I was working towards my qualification. My tutor from the company would honestly only checking when assignments were overdue or missing but there wasn’t any general ongoing support from them. There were general guidelines with regards on how to complete modules but that was mostly it.

My qualification through my training provider has really helped me to perform better in my role as it has given me the sufficient knowledge and skills that I need to succeed in my job. I feel that if I had just gone straight into this role without doing the apprenticeship I wouldn’t have gained much in-depth knowledge as I do now through gaining my qualification.

As previously mentioned the school that I was doing my apprenticeship with offered many extracurricular activities for children that were able for me to get involved in doing. In addition to this the school had a great community that had lots of team events and social events for me to attend and participate.

No

The main reason I would not recommend this company is due to the personal matters that I endured with my tutor. The Let me play company did very well with sourcing me a job and keeping good communication after I passed my qualification however my tutor did not help me to gain my qualification any more than I did so myself and I had to pull a lot more weight because of this.

Tips or advice I would give to others applying to this company would be that if you are a person that can work well independently this is a good company to work with and they are good at sourcing placements that’s fulfil your needs also they do keep you in mind after you have finished your qualification in regards to any upcoming opportunities.