Meet Chloe, a Teaching Assistant who has led a varied career.
Can you describe your journey into working in education?
After leaving school I took a diploma in Musical Theatre, then, after a short acting career, moved into office-based roles from Administration to HR.
When I decided to start a family, I started looking for a career that would fit around family life. With my past experiences, newfound love of childcare and helping others I started to consider working with children. I took an online Level 3 Childcare course during my Maternity Leave and successfully applied to a local school to become a Midday Meal Supervisor. After excelling in this role, I decided to apply to become a Full Time Teaching Assistant when the role became available.
What are the key things you love most about your job?
From day one, I found the satisifcation of helping the pupils to learn and grow very fulfilling.
My favourite part of the day is always when you see that you have helped a child to understand something they were finding particularly tricky. Interventions are a great tool for this and each can be so varied. From a ball game to help with Spelling, to finding a new way to help them with their Times Tables, seeing that light switch on for them is the best feeling.
What information or advice would you give someone who is looking to work in a similar role?
My varied career up to this point has helped me immensely and gave me the confidence to help others and to think outside of the box. The fact that the job fit’s so well around family life is just an added bonus. Each day is different, so you can never have two days the same. Along with the support and camaraderie of the other staff, there really is no job quite like it!