So we start this year with 8 new teaching assistant members of staff. That’s a lot! An increase of 30%. This is good news as we have also had a 25% increase in pupils with EHC plans. New team members highlight how far we’ve come. How much we’ve invested in CPD and the subsequent knowledge, skills and systems that are instilled in our teaching and routines. Someone suggested new staff would ‘pick it up’. However this would be impossible. It was a journey. Building on the previous, using published research, peer work, debating and learning through making mistakes.
I have a plan. I will repeat what worked last time-an hour a week during the school day. I will start from scratch. The ethos will, I’m sure, just be ‘picked up’ by osmosis. The knowledge and skill, however, needs explicit teaching. I think we’ll get to the destination more quickly, as they’ll see it all in action back in the classroom from the established staff members. They’ll benefit from observing and learning from the experienced.
Here goes- The EEF ‘Making best use of teaching assistants’ resources are the prompt for the first session. Then some peer observations should model this effective practice. Followed by weekly sessions on interventions to support across all SEN categories of need taking us up to half term. External training hosted by the Advisory Teaching and Educational Psycology service for specific classroom needs will also be doloped throughout the term.
I value this CPD more than anything. It has had a huge impact on our pupil outcomes. I’m confident that teaching assistants in our school have a voice that’s influential in how our school develops because this CPD makes them feel worthy!
A SENCO's story 