Does this sound ok?
I am applying for the position of Learning Support Assistant at , for 2 very different yet equally important reasons.
- Having read the OFSTED report and having been a part of school life for a short period last year (Summer term 2008) I have seen that the school is a caring and positive environment for the pupils who attend.
The OFSTED report mentions ?a strength of the school is the pupils' good personal development. This is mainly as a result of the school's leadership placing a high priority on integrating pupils from all backgrounds and abilities into school life?
As mentioned I was given the opportunity to see how
___ works as a school last year and believe this statement to be true the children I worked with were new to the school yet both staff and children soon made them very welcome and they integrated well into the day to day routine.
?Pupils have positive attitudes to others and good levels of concentration. They behave well because staff manage them effectively? again I have seen this in place both with the school secretary passing on messages to pupils at the end of the day, or the headmistress ensuring order in the playground at the beginning of the school day.
It also mentioned ?Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. They readily take on responsibilities in the school, and they are involved in a number of fund-raising activities. Pupils also take part in a number of sporting activities and their involvement in the local community is satisfactory? during the summer term I enjoyed participating in both school sports days, the balloon race, school picnic and pond opening, where I saw a large amount of parents proving that the school fosters positive relations between themselves and parents.
- I am currently applying for a place to study the Foundation Degree in Early Years as it has always been my ambition to work as a teacher in the early years and I feel that working within __ school will give me invaluable skills in many areas which will make me a better childcare and education worker and hopefully a fantastic teacher.
I believe the role of a Learning Support Assistant (LSA) in Key stage 1 is to ?support access to learning by undertaking a range of practical duties within the classroom including physical care of pupil(s) as appropriate?
A LSA?s role can be divided in to 2 specific areas ? supporting the teacher/school and supporting the pupils. Both of these are important in their own right, and without the LSA?s support in both areas the children?s learning journey can be affected.
During 2006 ? 2007 I worked as a room leader at a day nursery; my duties included preparing and organising resources for play and learning experiences; for example making ice cubes for sensory play, setting up the room in the mornings and bringing in special resources such as African drums, saris etc to further the children?s learning journey. I also had responsibility of displaying and presenting children?s work within the setting taking positive criticism and ideas of other team members as to how to display these,
Other duties also included forming relationships with parents/carers to ensure continuity of care for the children but also to gather information about the child/family which might affect behaviour, and where they may need extra support etc, ensuring that I treated the parents with a professional courtesy, and treated our discussions as confidential unless they needed to be discussed with other professionals such as a SENCO, manager or possibly the child protection officer, I also had to maintain records regarding the children?s behaviour, development and targets, again allowing for confidentiality and complying with policies and procedures.
The nursery also held a monthly staff meeting which we were expected to attend, during meetings we would discuss policies and procedures, how to work better as a team, and update our skills in different areas including food hygiene, first aid, behaviour management, inclusion.
Other ways an LSA can support the teacher are: report difficulties appropriately; whether this be behaviour or educational difficulties and support the teacher in basic management of pupil behaviour, ensuring continuity of care within the classroom, assist with supervision of pupils out of school time including before and after school and lunchtime and accompany staff and pupils on visits and trips as required and take responsibility for a group under the supervision of a teacher.
I have recently been working as a nanny on the estate caring for 3 main families ? 1 of whom attend the school, my duties as a nanny are to plan, implement and provide educational and fun activities which are age and stage dependent (bearing in mind the zone of proximal development) these have included supporting children to understand and follow instructions and also encourage them to act independently as appropriate for example allowing the children to cook their own lunch (with adult help and supervision).
I have also had the responsibility of listening to the children read and complete homework such as basic numeracy or literacy worksheets. Other duties include supervising activities to ensure the children?s safety, assisting with dressing and caring for/supporting the individual child and their individual needs, I feel these are all roles/duties of an LSA working within a classroom setting. Other duties may also include; supporting pupils in literacy, numeracy and ICT tasks as a group, or with certain individuals, encouraging pupils to interact with others, and engage themselves in activities led by the teacher.
I also have had experience of working with children who have IEP?s and/or special educational needs both as an individual and as a member of a team working together to ensure the child has as many opportunities as possible to allow them access to all areas of learning. In the academic year 2001-2002 I worked alongside the head teacher at
_ school where he also worked as the SENCO, whilst working alongside him I assisted individual children in tasks such as reading, worksheets and games. I have also worked as a babysitter to a child who is diagnosed as being on the Autistic spectrum, which although challenging has given me a good understanding of the difficulties parents face with children with special educational needs, but also has given me the opportunity to see the child not the disability and work to teach him through activities he enjoys.
I think I have the right personal attributes to be a Key stage 1 LSA ? I am very hardworking and use my initiative to ensure that the day to day running of the classroom is of paramount importance; whether that is ensuring that the pencils are sharpened, that the cloakroom is tidy or that the schools newsletter is placed into book bags on a Friday afternoon. I am also flexible and willing to help out where I can, whether this is in the classroom or assisting somewhere else in the school.