Teaching Assistant Review

Teaching assistant role; especially concerned with the in-class support of SEND students, as well as running extra interventions for struggling students (especially in subjects such as numeracy and literacy). Ensuring all students are supported correctly in and out of lessons, focusing on achievement, access to education and individual improvement and integration.

New skills include: sensitivity and building of good relationships with students, understanding how children learn and develop, behaviour management, leading and planning of interventions, creating class materials and resources, child protection, safeguarding, pastoral skills... Some skills have been developed from existing experience such as: patience and understanding, organisation, communication, flexibility and creativity, good literacy, numeracy and IT skills.

I fully enjoy my job role and thoroughly enjoyed the completion of my apprenticeship. I feel like I learnt so many new skills whilst studying to become a teaching assistant, and have gained so much knowledge regarding an area which I am now very passionate about. All my colleagues, tutors, managers and leadership team, both in school and as part of the trainee programme have been extremely helpful and key in my successful completion of my apprenticeship.

The programme in itself was quite well structured and organised. Through several video calls and interactions with your own tutor, I was able to pick and choose which units I wanted to complete and in which order I prefered to do them; this helped the programme be extremely flexible and catered to my own individual preferences and experiences whilst studying and working in a school.

All of my colleagues, tutor and manager have been extremely supportive throughout my apprenticeship programme. All the way from allowing me to shadow them in the first few weeks of my placement, to sharing good practices with me; reviewing my own practices and offering guidance and advice depending on what they felt was best in terms of my own learning and how I should approach certain students and their needs. Everyone at my school has been extremely helpful and willing to help should I need it.

The support I received from my tutor, [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions], was invaluable in my successful execution of this qualification. She went over and beyond in all aspects; ensuring I had all the information I needed, helping me understand each unit subsequently and what it was asking of me each and every single time, ensuring that my deadlines were flexible should I need more time for my research, practising mock questions and discussions with me as part of my preparation for the professional discussions, etc... [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] was extremely helpful in every aspect of this programme, and I am pretty sure I couldn't have achieved such an amazing result without her help.

Without my qualification I probably wouldn't be able to perform my role to the very best of my abilities, due to the immense knowledge which it provided me with. All the units covered in the programme were specifically designed to help further skills and understanding of all the key aspects of working in a school, thus ensuring that as a Teaching Assistant I am able to perfectly support and nurture my students.

My school offers plenty of opportunities to get involved with extra-curricular clubs after school. We have a broad enrichment programme which is planned and lead by teachers and their areas of expertise and interest; all the way from figurine painting, to code breaking, to cheerleading and gardening; this ensures that students can learn from teachers and the latter can share their own knowledge over a broad range of areas. There are also networking events for teachers such as: apple picking afternoons, pub quizzes, and library get togethers with cakes and tea.

Yes

The Thetford Academy is a great school to work in. Not only does it have an amazing and dedicated team of professionals who do their utmost to teach and support our students, but it also benefits from having great facilities and being located in a beautiful part of East Anglia.

Make sure that you're not put off by the overall 'fame' of the town and the school. The Thetford Academy has changed drastically over the years, now being considered a great school to attend in the local vicinity and getting some of its best results ever. When comparing the school to other organisations within the Inspiration Trust, our behaviour policy is the best, ensuring teachers can teach without interruption and students get the most out of their education (this is clearly seen through the ever improving results which our students have achieved over the last 5 years).