#learning support assistant

[daybydaydiabetes]

Back to work tomorrow after a lovely summer off - I have concerns about the children seeing my Libre for the first time...convinced a kid will try and rip it off...fingers crossed they don’t! 

[3nbyking]

So guess who's gone back to work today y'all ✌🏻

[cumbriacrack]

West Lakes Academy celebrates World Down’s Syndrome Day West Lakes Academy has been celebrating World Down’s Syndrome Day (WDSD). Grant Tebay, Learning Support Assistant at the academy Full story: https://www.cumbriacrack.com/2018/03/21/west-lakes-academy-celebrates-world-downs-syndrome-day/

[sliptripandkissme]

My job can be super tough, frustrating, and hard - so SO hard, it tests your patience and no two days are the same. But I’ve got to be honest, I LOVE my job!! It’s so rewarding knowing that you’ve helped make a difference to children’s lives through teaching. Every “thank you, miss” makes me smile, and seeing children’s grades increase within weeks of helping them is just amazing!! I’ve been working with a boy since October, and have managed to help increase his reading age by a whole 19 months in such a short time. Awesome!! 👍😄🍎📝📓✏️📚📖🎨🔬🎶

[books-and-books-and-stuff]

Teacher and LSA I work with...

Teacher and LSA I work with are not happy that I am doing more jobs for the rest of the school.  They said that they need me in class because the class is unruly.  So does that mean they can't cope or that the kids listen to me more.

Tomorrow I am going to live in the library or another part of the school to get on with what I was asked to do weeks ago and now only able to get on with it.  Tough if they don't like it.

It just goes to show that they cannot cope without me!

In my opinion, all LSAs should show a level of knowledge that is needed for Primary age.  Some LSAs in schools don't even know some things that the children are being taught.  It is ridiculous.  As for computer skills, they are basically zero with at least 90% of LSAs in the school I work in.  They are always asking me for help.  So, I hope when my contract ends, they renew it because of that.  It is shocking that some people cannot even open a word document properly.

[barbellsandtherapy]

So... job?

I just sent out a couple emails canceling interviews I had for next week, cause I've officially accepted a job.

It's still through my agency, which has it's pros and cons. A big pro is getting paid weekly, which I was not looking forward to giving up. The main con was going to be the lower salary compared to most jobs I was applying to, but it seems I'm hot stuff cause I've worked it out with my manager that I'll be making pretty much the same amount as I would on a salary and with slightly less hours, because she didn't want to lose me to those other schools.

A massive pro is the schools themselves. It's 2 centres for teenagers who are highly emotionally and behaviourally challenged, and I will be spending half of my week in each. I spent today in the early intervention centre, which has different groups of students who are at risk of exclusion come in one after the other for 10 weeks at a time, as well past students coming in for specific courses every now and then. Yesterday I spent the day at the other one, which is mostly full-time students who have already been excluded and who are pretty much lost causes when it comes to normal education, which gives the centre the opportunity to give them a specialised and flexible curriculum that teaches them actual life skills. There is also a woman at the second one who is a mentor and has my dream job, so I think I'm gonna attach myself to her quite a bit.

So that starts in September and ends at Easter, as I'll be covering for a maternal leave. Both days the heads of the centres told me they loved what they saw in me, and I'd forgotten how nice it was to go to a SEN school, where my passion, especially at my age, is so appreciated. 

While there are 3 and a half weeks left to the school year, I don't think I'll be getting any more placements, apart from the odd day or two, because schools don't tend to need supply TA's around this time. Luckily, I can afford it as I'm not paying rent now, so bring on the holidays! It'll be so good to have some time off work in which I'm not ill, having to be super responsible with other stuff, or in Italy. I think the last time was in February, and I wasn't at my best then :P

[barbellsandtherapy]

Art

Today the kids had to make a simple drawing to then repeat and colour in the style of pop art. For an hour I helped children draw and be creative, praised them on their work, and got told how good I am drawing. They lined up to ask for my help and advice. Their eyes widened with everything I made and every compliment I offered them. While I enjoyed the compliments and the amazement at my "talent", I'm used to it. Maybe not to the extent I received it today, but that wasn't the good part. It was seeing how proud they were of what they'd made, and seeing how happy it made them to have it approved by someone they see as so good. It was the fact that when I told them they should keep drawing, keep practising, in order to get as good and probably better than me, they believed me and got excited about it. I love art. I think anything made for the sake of making it rather than in an attempt to make it perfect is beautiful. And children's art is so exactly that. They proudly showed me their "best ever" drawings. They told me they'd bring some in for me to look at. My God I cannot explain how much I now want to take over their art lessons. I might sneakily attempt that. I want to fill a giant book with their drawings and words (I haven't mentioned, a lot of them write really well, too). Also, they've taken to asking me to draw things for them. It is heartwarming how much they love every little doodle.

[barbellsandtherapy]

Changing school

Last day of vacation... tomorrow is my first day at my new school!

The girl I've been working with one on one is getting a new teacher (her old one is moving away), and the replacement is a lovely but very young man who is newly qualified and doesn't have much experience. The class my girl is in is very challenging, and because I am the only LSA that is with them through the entire day, the easiest way to counterbalance the inexperience of the new teacher is to replace me with a much more experienced LSA, instead of fucking with everyone else's schedule to make sure the other LSA in the class is always an experienced one.

The girl and her classmates were sad to see me go, especially as it's piled on to their beloved teacher leaving, but the person who was most upset was a girl I became very close with as she's in the same unit as my one on one student. When I told her she cried, told me I was like her mom (she's been in care her whole life, so she doesn't appreciate how much more a real mother is) and even asked if I could foster her, bless. I've made sure she can contact me through her school if she feels she needs me, and I think with the distance, and especially with the half term buffer we've just had, she'll get over it much quicker than she thinks. It crushed me to see her like that, though. I felt so irresponsible, bonding with a student so much when I could never be sure how long I would be around.

But, in a way it's a bit of a relief. Working one on one was incredibly challenging, and working with the other students showed me how much more difficult my girl was compared to the other students (hence the need for a one on one with a psychology background). 

The new school I'll be starting at tomorrow is most likely no picnic, either. It is a small, specialised secondary school for boys who have suffered from sexual abuse and trauma. It is a fantastic opportunity to work with some delicate cases that will further my experience toward therapy, and as there are psychotherapists and family therapists working at the school, I hope I can even get some contacts for the future.

Wish me luck!