Mid-Career/Management
Currently looking for position
Total years of experience :13 years, 7 Months
Plymouth City Council is the unitary authority for Plymouth, Devon. The Council currently has over 10000 employees working there in a variety of different sectors. The role of Conversion Officer started in September 2014 and involves managing large caseloads of Special Educational Needs (SEN) conversions as per change in the SEN code of practice. For every child determined to have SEN in Plymouth (currently 1600) there is a Statement of Special Needs, which needs to be converted and updated into the new format of an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). To be able to do this, the Conversion Officer needs to liaise with schools, parents and other agencies involved in the plan e.g. Head Teachers, Educational Psychologists and Medical Practitioners. This is achieved by organising and chairing meetings involving the necessary professionals and ensuring that the information is relevant to the child so that the council is best able to support each child with additional funding so that they have the best opportunity to achieve to the best of their academic potential.
Reed Education is the largest recruitment agency in the United Kingdom. It currently employs over 3000 people in a range of different roles including support and recruitment roles. My role as Recruitment Consultant for education involved recruiting teachers and support staff for schools in Devon and Cornwall. This involved supporting the opening of a new branch and starting a cold desk in an extremely competitive market (competing against eight already established agencies) where business was won in a number of different schools. This new business was won through using a consultative nature and knowledge of the education sector to earn trust and show understanding of the client’s needs. In order to provide continued service excellence regular meetings were arranged to discuss the client’s needs and to keep them informed of any new candidates or offers running. Key Performance Indicators to the role were consistently exceeded with quality communications that evidence use of sales techniques such as questioning, trial closing and negotiation. By December 2015, I had secured, and was the preferred recruiter, for over thirty different accounts including five of the top ten biggest spending schools in the city of Plymouth. The determination to succeed was reflected by my performance as the top performing Primary Education Consultant in the area, signing agreements to be the sole supplier for the biggest nursery school in Plymouth and being the only consultant to successfully pass the probationary period in the year 2015.
Salisbury Road is an OFSTED rated public school in Plymouth Devon. Due to its location near the city centre, it has a diverse range of nationalities studying within its setting. The school educates over 400 children, five days a week and offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities. As with all teaching, the environment was a demanding one and involved the organizing of the entire curriculum and delivering it to a wide range of abilities and children with different first languages. It involved providing support in different ways be it one to one, small groups or whole class. Delivering Outstanding OFSTED standard lessons which have been sufficiently pre-planned and resourced for. This includes challenging poor attitudes and behaviours and encouraging unmotivated learners to be able to see their true worth and achieve to the best of their ability. Consistently achieves national targets relating to the progress of pupils in my care, using a range of different techniques that are tailoured to the individual child. Completing all administration duties including planning, assessment and resourcing for each lesson. In addition, leading a team of four in planning, preparing and delivering E-safety resources and materials to pupils and parents to ensure there was a high level of understanding of potential online dangers.
Having a flexible outlook to work and being able to travel at short notice to wherever required. Utilising an excellent phone manner when communicating with the agency on a daily basis. Working from plans left by the class teacher or being able to think creatively with limited time to generate enjoyable and challenging lessons. Being able to quickly form professional relationships with staff and children to produce a pleasant working environment.
Planning, preparing and implementing lessons that are challenging and enjoyable for the children. Using outside contacts to bring in speakers to aid the learning in a variety of subjects and supplementing learning by organising trips relevant to current topics. Further to the class teacher role, being PE coordinator required me to liaise with the other island based PE coordinators to help develop the way PE is taught in school. This led to the introduction of FUNS as a way of developing the fundamental skills required for a variety of sports and games.