A huge thank you

Well half term is finally here, this term has been a long one. I was going to write this blog post about the TES SEN Show, however I really wanted to dedicate this one to the incredible TAs I am fortunate enough to work with. I dashed to a meeting after school on Friday and when I returned to my classroom I found it magically transformed. There are now amazing sensory Halloween decorations hung up in the classroom from the ceiling and on the windows and doors. I could not believe (well I actually can) that my fabulous team would stay behind on the last day of term, without me even mentioning anything to them and them thinking I’d disappeared somewhere, and transform the room all so that our lovely group of children would come back to an engaging sensory environment. That is why I want to dedicate this blog to them, because that is just the kind of people they are and I am grateful for them every day.

This term hasn’t gone without its challenges. Firstly four days into the term I got shingles which meant I was signed off work for ten days. As a teacher with a brand new class and team, this is incredibly frustrating beyond this discomfort of the shingles. I didn’t feel like we’d got into a routine yet and I felt really lost not being there. But my team stepped up to the mark of course and did an amazing job. Shout out to Becky who led the class for me which is difficult in itself without brand new apprentices and also supply staff. I got regular updates and was thrilled to know that one child was sitting at the breakfast table for 5 minutes and that another had tried popping candy. I came back to annotated planning and assessment notes on my wall, I literally couldn’t have asked for any more from them. As well as me being off we have had a few staff changes this term and a new pupil but we have pulled together as a team. Our class are mostly boys aged 13/14 so they are at that age when hormones are running riot in their bodies which has given us extra challenges this term too.

We had an observation on Friday, the last day of term. The last couple of weeks have been really tough, we have been battling to find strategies that work to support our pupils very complex sensory needs and the diversity of the group. We got a strong good and I was over the moon. Sometimes it’s not about that outstanding but the journey. We did a TAC PAC session and some of the pupils went to the shops to choose a new floor mat as our door entrance gets slippery (we started with a walk to the end of the street at the beginning of term and now we are able to go to a shop!!!). It is the same session I have delivered every day. I don’t really believe in show lessons for observations, although I understand why teachers do it. There is a lot of pressure to get outstanding and prove you are good at what you do. With some classes they respond really well to the amazing resources (which we can’t afford every day) and activities of an observation lesson but I know my pupils probably wouldn’t. I had faith that what we do every day is good. It might not be outstanding but it is what our pupils need. I was cursing having an observation on the last day of term but actually it was a nice round up of the journey we have been on as a class this term and it highlighted that despite a lot of turmoil the children have achieved lots. Some were signifying which area of the body they preferred, another anticipated his favourite part. That’s what it’s all about for me, the children discovering about themselves and that they have the power to communicate what they want when we can facilitate it for them and them being happy.

We sometimes get to the end of the day and ask ourselves how we got through it, well the answer is simple: by working together, with humour and by focusing on the achievements however small and however clouded by chaos they might be.

My team are a crazy lot but they never fail to put a smile on my face and bring me back down to earth with encouragement and support when I am stressing. Any crazy idea I have they jump on board with – how about a residential – yeh let’s do it. If I say we're making our own facemasks today, they get stuck in and try it out with the children or if it's crazy hairdressers week they all go home with brightly coloured UV hair too! If I forget to get breakfast, I can guarantee that one of my team with have already thought about it and have nipped to Asda the night before. And then there's fat Fridays. I'm giving away classroom secrets how. The girls always keep the cupboard stocked up with goodies on a Friday and it keeps us going. If they disappear out of our cupboard now school peeps, I'll be checking who has read this blog ;-) 

They all get on board with my fundraising efforts for the new sensory room, planning events and emailing businesses in their spare time. Another shout out to Becky who came with me yesterday on a SATURDAY to collect a cheque kindly donated by Boston netball club and I know the others would have come if they were not working (yes most of them have another job – I don’t know how they do it). 

But most of all, the thing I am grateful for is that they understand the children, they are patient and wait for them to initiate communication, when they are sometimes at the end of aggression, they never take it personally and are empathetic to work out what is upsetting the child. They care.

Teaching Assistants who work with special needs children are supermen/women. I strongly feel that they should be entitled to the SEN allowance that SEN teachers get. I have worked in both mainstream and special schools and I see the work our SEN TAs do. They are teachers, nurses, carers, physios, salts, behaviour management specialists and much more. They are superheroes.

Shout out to all SEN TAs you are amazing, it was where my career started as an apprentice TA in a primary school for children with Autism and I couldn’t have asked for a better starting block. No teacher could do it without you. 

And here's Demi trying out Becky's pregnancy pillow which she brought in for one of our pupils - and it's proving a success! 

I hope everyone has a lovely half term!