Sabrina

Having spent almost seventeen years in education, during which time I have held several positions of increasing responsibility including; Learning Leader for Curriculum, Teaching & Learning I realised; that my true motivation and driving force was to work with SEN/autistic/SLD/MLD, on an individual basis, inspiring a love of FUN, creative learning, which results in progress, whilst impacting pupils in a real and positive way.

Specialist English, Maths and speech and language support: I am a Specialist Leader in Education for Functional Skills and embed these into Literacy and Numeracy, ensuring I encapsulate all other curriculum targets where necessary. I am highly confident and experienced in assisting with communication and language barriers/challenges. I have engaged in Elklan training (SaLT) to ensure pupils are reaching their potential through the use of language, memory and other coding and de-coding skills.

Proficient in delivering GCSE English & Functional Skills (Literacy and Numeracy) for most examining boards, including: AQA, Edexcel, Pearson, OCR, CCEA, and WJEC, I am familiar with all tests used and standards required. (Please see attached documents for overview of Functional Learning in both Literacy & Numeracy, and examples of targets covered at each level) I am also highly experienced in using other examination bodies, such as City & Guilds, ASDAN, OCR, AIM Award (and others) for Employability, Life Skills, Personal and Social Development and other vocational curriculum offers. I have delivered Employability and Wider Key Skills at Levels 1 - 3 with a 100% success rate for pupils entered. I have also been the point of contact and centre lead for ASDAN as well as being an Internal Verifier (IV) for portfolios submitted.

Fun and creative sessions: I am a highly energetic tutor and my teaching style and pupil interaction reflects and corresponds to my core values of; inclusion, fun, sensory, creative learning, complemented by the use of high quality, personalised resources. I truly believe that if a pupil is enjoying their learning experience, they will remain engaged, enabling the opportunity to unlock their maximum potential.

Homework support: I have assisted a number of students with their homework, utilising the time to help understanding their specific areas for development in away that is personal to them. I use the Functional Skills approach (see attached documents) to break down topics/concepts/tasks etc. that they may find tricky, reduce them to bite-size chunks and working through them together in a way that is relatable to the individual, through discussion, problem-solving and decision-making.

Bespoke planning and preparation: When planning any session, my focus is on enriching the lives of my pupils, I am adamant that they receive the best provision and achieve both aspirational and realistic results. I achieve this by committing myself to regular independent CPD – (I am currently undertaking a Speech & Language Specialist Course). This reflects my passion for enriching communication skills with my learners, to foster a flexible and blended teaching style which evokes resilience, knowledge and curiosity, enabling the opportunity to consolidate skills whilst promoting independence.

During the pandemic I have been working alongside students with a range of needs and across different levels and subject areas.

Key subjects have been English, history and geography from Key Stages 1-3. Often, lessons were embedded or taught through a thematic approach (a specific historical event) to further consolidate skills from other curriculum areas, and this method was highly successful.

As sessions with some pupils took place online, we remained creative and our sessions organically evolved into using many forms of communication, which promoted discussion, improved language, questioning skills, recalling specific information etc.

Many significant historical events were covered, here is an example of some of the topics:

• The Great Fire of London;


• The first aeroplane flight


• Guy Fawkes and other events commemorated through festivals or anniversaries


• British monarchs


• The Stone Age


• The Iron Age


• Neil Armstrong


• Rosa Parks


• The Suffragettes


• The Victorians


• The Romans


• Ancient Greece


• Vikings


• Anglo-Saxons


• The Titanic


• The struggle between church and crown


• The Black Death


• The Hundred Years War


• The First and Second World Wars


• Industrial Britain

All sessions adapt to the pupil’s learning style and are FUN, creative and varied in their delivery. Methods may include; Discussion, role play, writing, model-making, the use of ICT, as well as virtual museum and exhibition tours.

If relevant, I am always happy to communicate with their school so that we can use sessions to re-enforce what is happening on the classroom. Otherwise, I am happy to create an overview for parents/carers to review beforehand.

I have been teaching English for all of my teaching career, teaching both the primary and secondary curriculum, as well as in Further Education.

Most recently, I have been working with a pupil in Year 3 (working at Year 1-2) who has verbal delay and finds English a challenging part of her school day. I am a Specialist Leader in Education for Functional Skills – (This is basically English skills used for pupils with SEN). Using my passion and expertise during our sessions, we have identified key areas for development and focussed on these, whilst consolidating the rest of the curriculum targets. Where necessary I will devise personalised interventions e.g. Using proven theories to aid writing skills. (please feel free to ask me more about this)

I endeavour to improve English skills, in a FUN, creative, personalised way. An experience that shows clear progress, with pupils using the skills learnt confidently. My aim is that pupils working with me generate a curiosity to learn and the confidence to question, challenge and recall and present skills and information learnt.

Here are some examples of targets:

Spoken Language:

• Listen and respond appropriately


• Use strategies to build vocabulary


• Maintain attention and participate actively in conversations, staying on topic


• Ask questions


• Initiate responses


• Gain and maintain interest of listener(s)

Reading (Word Reading):

• Application of phonics to decode word


• Awareness of all 40 phonemes


• Read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words


• Identify words using; -s, -es, -ing, -ed, -er, -est


• Re-read to gain fluency

Reading (Comprehension):

• Develop pleasure in reading


• Recognise key words


• Become familiar with key stories and recall them


• Identify specific information in short texts


• Discuss titles and events


• Predict what might happen next, based on what has already been read


• Identify, appreciate and learn rhymes and poems


• Read with attention to punctuation

Writing:

• Name alphabet


• Use capital and lowercase letters correctly


• Use prefix and suffixes


• Write short sentences correctly


• Sequence short sentences to form short narratives

Functional Skills sessions/ ASDAN, AIM Award, City and Guilds vocational and Employability-based subject areas: these enable English, Maths and ICT skills to be taught through purposeful ‘real-life’ or realistic activities with a strong focus on problem-solving, breaking down tasks/questions/texts, this approach concentrates on discussion and understanding, explanation and decision making. I deliver Functional Skills as a standalone unit/subject or it can be imbedded into other learning such as ASDAN, AIM Award, City and Guilds vocational and Employability-based subject areas. In addition to this, this approach to learning is one that provides the learner with confidence and the skills required to manage the understanding and progress of their own learning. The skills that underpin Functional Skills (FS) learning enable the student to deal with practical challenges and problems that they will encounter in real life. Functional Skill levels are form Entry Level 1 – Level 2 (GCSE Levels 6-9/B-A*).

Learners have the opportunity to reflect on different approaches to a particular task, in a way that is broken down and understood to them, so that they can focus in the information they need to find and use, so that we can devise a strategy to achieve their personalised objectives. Many existing teaching practices are very well suited to this learning approach, this includes both learner and problem-centered approaches, active learning, partnership learning and assessment for learning.

Your child will progress and learn with me: If you wish to proceed with tuition with me, I will ensure that we begin with a baseline assessment to determine current level of the student. Once this has been established, a diagnostic assessment will be completed (at their initial assessment level) to see what the personalised areas of development are to ensure progression to the next level. These will be listed with specific targets, that are discussed with families and reviewed on a regular basis.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, or further information you require about how fostering this approach can upskill and help your child progress and achieve in their learning journey.