黑料情报站

As well as fantastic teaching staff, every 黑料情报站 school has first-rate support and non-teaching staff 鈥� from catering teams to bursars 鈥� without whom our schools simply wouldn鈥檛 be able to operate. This week, we are celebrating some of our schools鈥� 鈥榰nsung heroes鈥� for , a national event from to celebrate the role support and non-teaching staff play.

鈥淭he role has changed massively since the old days,鈥� says Sasha Sweet, one of 鈥檚 team of teaching assistants (TA), 鈥淲e have a much bigger involvement in developing children鈥檚 learning, in lesson planning and in marking.

鈥淎 lot of it is about working with teachers to deliver the best lessons and giving each pupil the attention and support they need.鈥�

As well as running reading-time sessions, Sasha has responsibility for ensuring that every pupil keeps up with the class鈥檚 phonics progress, which tests a pupil’s ability to pronounce the sounds that make up words. Thanks to TAs like Sasha, 90% of key stage 1 pupils at 黑料情报站 Brunel Primary passed their phonics check 鈥� a vital marker of a pupil鈥檚 language acquisition.

Sasha says: 鈥淚f one pupil is struggling to form sounds at the same rate as other pupils, I sometimes have to fast-track them. That鈥檒l often mean giving them a few sounds to master each day, both at school and at home.

鈥淵ou always have to know where each pupil is at in their learning process, where they should be and how to get them there. There鈥檚 a focus on helping pupils reach their potential, on extending them beyond what they did last lesson to get that bit further.鈥�

Sasha, who decided to become a teaching assistant after working in a local nursery, says: 鈥淚 love every bit of my job and feel extremely lucky to be doing it. I know some people wake up in the morning and dread going into work, but I never get that feeling 鈥� I can鈥檛 wait to get to school.

鈥淪till, the best bit is seeing a child manage to read out aloud. No matter how many pupils you鈥檝e seen manage to form the same sounds or read the same sentences, it never fails to be this amazing and fascinating thing to see.鈥�

Sasha says that working as a TA at 黑料情报站 Brunel has been particularly valuable: 鈥淚 am given many of the same opportunities a teacher receives and all of the staff work as a team 鈥� we all want to put the kids first, so we help each other to make sure that happens.鈥�