My journey to teaching started out as becoming a TA which meant I worked very closely with lots of children with different learning needs. I found this job incredibly rewarding and it prepared me really well for my PGCE. When I landed my first role as a year 6 teacher in my NQT year I found myself having no time to think about my own teaching philosophy and what was important to me. I decided the school I was in was not the right fit for me and decided to go on supply for a while. I have always had a real passion for supporting the most vulnerable children and came across the advert for a job at a special school. I applied not expecting to even get an interview due to my lack of experience in the field, but I succeeded and here we are!

My experience in a SEND setting.

Well where do I start!! Firstly, I can honestly say that I love my job and that is down to the children that I work with. Now I’m not saying it’s easy I have a very difficult class of children who all have a diagnosis of ASD, so behaviour management is key, but it is a very different style to anything I used in mainstream education. The children are very emotionally young so there is a lot of nurture and facilitating play before more formal learning can even start. Due to my holistic view of teaching this fits well with my own teaching style, but it is not for everyone; patience and being incredibly calm even in fairly volatile situations is very important.

If you are thinking about SEND.

Firstly; I would advise getting some experience. I was lucky as on my PGCE I did a week SEND placement. If this is not part of your course or you have already qualified, I would really advise trying to get a little bit of experience, so you know what to expect.

Next think about if you would be a good fit. Are you:

• Patient

• Passionate

• Understanding

• Willing to ask for and take people’s advice (I can’t stress enough how much I have leaned from the highly trained teaching and TA staff)

• Have a thick skin (sometimes the children say and do things that hurt!!)

• Willing to get your hands dirty (sensory play, messy play, feeding and personal care are all part of the role)

What are the best bits of the job?

The best part of my job is the children. As difficult and challenging behaviour wise as they can be when you get that bit of progress it’s the best feeling ever! If it’s a child sharing a high value object, or telling you how they feel rather than crying, or saying their first words or a new word or even giving someone eye contact it makes all the hard parts absolutely worth it! There have been so many times I’ve almost cried with joy over something one of the children have done.

Would I consider mainstream again?

Yes, but not a teaching role. Eventually I would love to use my experience to advise and train in mainstream education about children with SEND.