As a qualified teacher I previously worked as a primary school teacher in year 2 which has been a challenging but rewarding role. I was moderated as an NQT to confirm my assessment of the children’s maths, reading and writing levels which went very well. Furthermore, as I work in an area where many of the children hold English as their second language and have a range of educational needs, I have been able to adapt accordingly to ensure the children’s needs are met academically as well as personally. All children progressed at the expected level whilst some exceeded. The various skills which I have gained as a teacher include:

? Planning for a range of subjects and adapting them to the educational needs of my pupils.
? Managing the behaviour of students to ensure a safe environment for all pupils.
? Assessing pupil’s understanding of what is being taught and responding to assessment.
? Completing annual SATs assessments for children and meeting predicted grades from earlier on in the year.
? Motivating, challenging and inspiring children to reach their full potential.
? Being able to make pupils progress in all aspects, not just academically.
? Communicating and maintaining a good relationship with pupils, parents and colleagues to ensure children are achieving as best as they can.

Whilst in the UAE I worked as a Year 4 teacher in a brand new school. Working in a private school has allowed me to develop my communication and interaction skills specifically with parents. Even more so when the pandemic hit as I was working through Google Classroom, Zoom and producing daily lesson video recordings for the children from March- July 2020. Although I did apply my experience from the UK to the UAE I did learn many new important skills which I believe will be very important to the workplace.

? Being a part of the working party to create school policies from scratch (marking, behaviour and presentation policies)
? Looking at the ENC and creating long and short term plans across all subjects for Year 4.
? Learning how to navigate a number of brand-new programmes to aid in children’s learning throughout the pandemic (Zoom, Google Classroom and Loom recordings).
? Regulating children’s emotions to help them academically and socially throughout their period of online learning.
? Adapting to a high intensity environment to ensure children’s, parent’s and the school’s needs were being met in all aspects.

Due to the scarcity of facilities available during the pandemic, many children fell years behind their expected progress levels during lockdown. Thus, when they went back to school once establishments reopened, institutions found themselves under pressure since their pupils had missed out on 2 years of education; those who were already behind on their progress and achievements had unfortunately fallen behind even more. This role was perfect for me as it allowed me to work with a small group of children (up to 14) to figure out what their gaps were and allow them to bridge the gap before their end of key stage assessments.

• Creating baseline assessments to determine the starting level of the child as well as identifying their weaknesses in order to create a suitable plan to ensure their optimal progress.
• Planning lessons based on the gaps of the children
• Tracking the progress of the pupils on a weekly basis
• Providing after-school interventions for children who require extra support
• Using the appropriate resources for children to grasp the concepts being taught (concrete, pictorial, visual)
• Meeting with the educational psychologist to discuss the progress and next steps of certain children as well as implementing action plans created
• Weekly meetings with the head of assessment and the head of year (Year 6) to track children’s progress and plans for progress