Jenna

My specialist experience working with students with SEN to develop trusting and meaningful relationships: Throughout my career, I have maintained tutoring as the best way of being a mentor to help students of all abilities achieve their potential in a 1:1 setting where I can work with them and their families to provide the best possible outcomes. I understand that students need to have a wide variety of often unseen needs met in order to be ready to learn and students cannot learn when these needs are not met. Often, our children do not feel safe in large, busy environments with many different adults and I have had much experience in working and training others to work in a pastoral way to focus on the relationships before all else. When a student is in a big classroom, they can often feel lost and their personalities do not flourish and a relationship with a tutor can really help them to feel comfortable in themselves.

My experience working with young people to boost their confidence and self-esteem: Throughout my career, I have worked hard to develop the whole child and young person and have a good understanding of how certain needs have to be met in order for effective learning to take place. Whilst working as a specialist teacher in Redbridge, I wrote an emotions programme that was to develop the understanding of self and emotions in primary aged children with the aim of developing their confidence and this is currently being used in numerous schools.

My skills and experience supporting students to develop their independence: Having experience of working in a specialist autism school, I understand how important it is to create lessons to promote the independence of young people. This may be focused on functional independence such as communication or social independence such as travelling, shopping and discovering leisure activities. I am used to thinking holistically about children and young people and passionately believe that learning should be to enhance your life and that academic learning can happen through many different channels.

My experience teaching English including phonics, and Maths:I have taught every year group from 1 through to 6 and have studied and taught phonics to a range of students. I understand how a modified approach may be needed for students with additional needs and how many students may struggle to identify and use phonological awareness in different reading contexts. I teach English and Maths to GCSE level and have supported students to gain a love of learning key and functional skills that they can then develop throughout their lives. I enjoy making the teaching of Maths and English relevant to the student and can tailor learning so that I capture their interests as this is the best way to learn.

My specialist experience providing engaging sessions to inspire a love of learning:  Throughout my career, I have always strongly believed that children and young people learn best when they are inspired and can see the relevance of what they are doing. I am able to use student’s interest to engage them and provide meaningful links to lifelong learning.

My experience teaching young people with sensory processing difficulties : Whilst a deputy head at a specialist school for autism and learning difficulties, I was lucky to work with an amazing occupational therapist and therapy team. I learnt about sensory processing difficulties and the way they can both impact and hider learning whilst often being mistaken for other conditions. I was able to use these skills when working as a specialist teacher in Redbridge to help both parents and teachers of mainstream students to understand how sensory processing difficulties can present in a busy school setting.

My experience teaching autistic young people: As a deputy principal in an all through school for children with autism and learning disabilities, I focused on embedding the new curriculum and assessment systems and we pioneered truly bespoke way of teaching – preparing the students for life when they finish school -this is often cited as something that schools do not do enough so it was a privilege to work alongside some visionary staff and hone my attitudes, vision and strategies. In this setting, I was lucky enough to teach a life skills curriculum which meant trips into the community and making learning practical and relevant. 

My experience teaching young people with working memory and processing difficulties: As a specialist teacher for the London borough of Redbridge, I offered advice to staff, students and parents on how to provide the best conditions to support children with SEND to flourish. I created and delivered training packages for teachers and other professionals on understanding and developing executive functioning skills in a classroom and home environment and followed the training up with bespoke teaching sessions that were modelled to school staff. We also considered the impact of cognitive functioning on student’s abilities to learn, particularly working memory, retrieval and processing. I was able to assess students to see how they used these skills to develop their ability and readiness to learn.

My experience teaching study and executive functioning skills: As a specialist teacher for the London borough of Redbridge, I offered advice to staff, students and parents on how to provide the best conditions to support children with SEND to flourish. I created and delivered training packages for teachers and other professionals on understanding and developing executive functioning skills in a classroom and home environment and followed the training up with bespoke teaching sessions that were modelled to school staff. We also considered the impact of cognitive functioning on student’s abilities to learn, particularly working memory, retrieval and processing. I was able to assess students to see how they used these skills to develop their ability and readiness to learn.