I would like to share with you some of the staff groups you might see around the St Peter’s site. It may be that parents or visitors are not sure of their roles within the school.
A nod of appreciation goes to…
A team of music, drama and sport specialist providers who come to our school to work with our pupils on a more 1:1 basis. Each one of them brilliant at encouraging the children to try something new. Each fantastic at highlighting any particular talents that they see in the children. All feed back into the Teaching team and all, of course, offer their own unique teaching strategies. The evening music concert in Week 5 certainly showed a vast range of musicianship which would not be possible without our army of peripatetic staff. A big thank you to you all for your care and tuition.
I must, of course, mention our team of fearless Teaching Assistants. Forever beavering away and never stopping for breath. They are part of the unsung at St Peter’s. We pride ourselves on our high teacher to pupil ratio here. Many of our teaching assistant team (led by Miss Smith) are fully qualified teachers, higher level teaching assistants or have other educational qualifications which mean that they are well equipped and trained to run high-quality intervention and provide classroom support. We are very lucky indeed to have them all contribute to the children’s impressive progress.
Again, here at St Peter’s, we are unusual in how we timetable and use each teaching assistant. Instead of always being attached to one class or cohort, we employ and deploy the staff directly to match the needs of the pupils. Class provision maps identify children’s changing needs each and every term. The staff have embraced the way we structure the pupils’ support and some of our teaching assistants can be seen throughout the week running up the path between classrooms – making the transition from supporting 1:1 reading intervention in Year 7, to then taking a small group of Reception pupils for fine motor skills support.
Talented? Yes indeed.
Our admin, operations, catering, marketing, maintenance and ground staff also contribute to our community – way above and beyond what their job descriptions describe.
At St Peter’s, we also regularly work alongside volunteers who give up their time to contribute to our school community. (You know who you are – thank you). Several activity leaders are becoming ‘regulars’, including the ever-enthusiastic Mr. Johnson (Our Head’s husband) and Mrs. White’s mother-in-law; Mrs. White (!!!). Our volunteers come from far and wide…each one bringing another piece of talent to the jigsaw puzzle that makes our school so special.
Here’s to the “randoms” of St Peter’s.
L.Ball, Deputy Head of Teaching & Learning
