A day in the life of an Aurora Teaching Assistant

If Teaching Assistants at Aurora schools and colleges were ever asked to come up with a motto that encompassed their role, they might well settle on the Scout Movement’s ‘Be Prepared!’

That’s because one of the first things you realise as a TA in a SEND setting - such as Aurora Severnside in Gloucestershire - is that no two days are ever likely to be the same!

“You never know what you're coming into, day-to-day,” said Severnside TA and Art Lead Lizzie Hammond, who supports teacher Leah Dixon’s Year 9 class along with fellow TAs Becky and Kate (TA Hayley was covering for Kate today). 

Yes, there’s a daily timetable that takes centre stage at the front of the class so everyone knows exactly what they should be doing and at what time but what’s less predictable are the young learners themselves.
 

Lizzie with her therapy dog Sunny

Lizzie said: “On my second day as a TA, a pupil brought a tent into the classroom and I was like, okay, I guess we're doing maths in the tent today. You've just got to be prepared to roll with what you’re presented with.”

Lizzie’s route to becoming a TA was slightly unconventional but then, the reality is there’s no set pathway into the role. She had owned a shop and ran a pub in Berkeley before deciding she wanted to do something different with her life.

“I was floating around, not knowing what I wanted to do when I saw that Severnside was looking for a TA. The school’s local to me and I thought ‘why not? I’ll give it a go’ - whilst at the same time not really knowing what to expect.

“But from the moment I walked into the school for the first time, I thought to myself ‘wow! this is amazing!

“During my job interview, one of the kids put his face up against the window outside and said: ‘who the **** are you?’

“I said, I’m Lizzie, who are you?”

Three years on and Lizzie is now juggling her role whilst taking a Level 5 Learning and Skills Teacher Apprenticeship.

“There are so many layers to the job that people don't realise,” she said. “But building relationships with the kids is the most important thing. Before they can learn, they need to feel safe, they need to be happy and they need to be ready.”

The year 9 class where Lizzie works is light and spacious and it’s where pupils Frankie, Preston, Logan, Mia, Poppy, Alfie and Lydia are taught, led by year nine class teacher Leah Dixon.

On the classroom walls are displays on Literacy, Maths and English, there’s a noticeboard and an art gallery featuring work by the pupils. Lizzie studied graphic art at university and colourful examples of her creativity are also on display. Alongside the timetable at the front of the class is Leah’s desk and to one side of the room, against a wall, is a sofa. 

The last member of the class’s ‘staff’ team is Lizzie’s therapy dog Sunny, a serenely beautiful six-year-old whippet who, judging by the amount of stroking he gets, is clearly loved by the pupils.

Today, there are five lessons scheduled: English, Maths, Digital Skills, PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) and Art with 15-minute breaks and lunchtime sandwiched in between each lesson.

Year 9 teacher Leah Dixon

“I like to get to school early so I can prepare,” said Lizzie, who aims to arrive each day at about 7.50am.

This gives her 40 minutes prepping time before Headteacher Rachel Lynch delivers her 8.30am briefing to staff, shortly after which, students start arriving in taxis.

“Strictly speaking, the pupils are meant to arrive around 9am but taxi-ing them in from all around is not an exact science so we have to be prepared for some early arrivals,” said Lizzie.

By 9.30am, the pupils have arrived, and in the year 9 class, the three TAs sit among their young learners at tables arranged in a three-sided square. 

Spell “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious . . .”  says teacher Leah, getting the English lesson underway.

There were squeals from the class – and the TAs!

This was followed shortly after by a slightly easier challenge - “now spell ‘philosophy’.”

During the lesson, the three TAs and Leah support the pupils with their spelling, all the while engaging in the general classroom chatter before gradually re-focusing the pupils on the task in hand.

“As a TA, and it’s probably true for all the team here, you’re always reading the young learners because you know them so well,” said Lizzie. “You can spot even the slightest bit of behaviour that might seem unusual. Behaviour is always a form of communication and that’s really important to understand. So being able to pick up on those signals is crucial.”

Learning is briefly interrupted by a staff member delivering snacks. These were introduced to encourage pupils to remain in the classroom rather than wandering the corridors looking for food when they were hungry.

“We found pupils were going out during lesson time because they knew other members of staff had snacks, so we decided to have healthy snacks available in the classroom,” said Lizzie. “A lot of our students use snacks as a regulation technique. Also, if they’re hungry they’re not going to learn so it makes sense to have some food on hand.”

The spelling quiz completed, Leah moves on to teaching how stories are structured. Workbooks are handed out by the TAs so the pupils can paste into them their classwork.

During the lesson, one pupil who felt tired relocated to the sofa. 

Lizzie said: “There are occasions when students don't manage to get the rest they need at home, so they have it here. If they’re tired then they’re not going to learn.”

When another pupil decides to leave the classroom unannounced, Lizzie follows her out to ensure all’s okay. “Whether you follow a student out of a class or not is a relationship-based decision,” said Lizzie. “You normally know instinctively what to do because you know if it’s normal for the pupil to behave in that way. You grow a kind of sixth sense.”

Once completed, it was time for the pupils to paste their story worksheets into their workbooks.

After break, Maths saw the young learners tackling scaling, probability and division, which is challenging at the best of times, but the pupils were focused and engaged.

Lizzie picks up some tracing paper, sits with Lydia and explains what needs to be done -  and how. Around the classroom, the pupils were busy doing their work, closely supported by the TAs.

It’s 11.15am and time for another break. The TAs collect the work that’s been done and make sure it’s been captured in their workbooks. Becky and Hayley leave for a cup of tea in the staff room whilst Lizzie remains on duty in class.

Next on the timetable was digital skills and the subject of Leah’s lesson centred on AI-generated media. The topic sparks a lively conversion about AI, its merits and shortcomings and how it can be used to manipulate the truth. 

Examples of Lizzie's graphic art adorn the classroom wall

The class discuss how to spot if an image has been AI-generated and then the pupils are each handed an photo and asked to decide if it’s real or created by AI. This task involves a combination of worksheet and computer based activity. The pupils were encouraged to stand up in turn to share their image and say what they thought and each displayed genuine enthusiasm for the topic. Lizzie discusses Lydia’s image with her and all around there is enthusiastic conversation with the TAs giving their perspective on AI before helping the young learners create their own AI generated image.

There’s a fluidity to the lesson structure to accommodate the comings and goings of pupils each of whom are closely monitored by the TAs as Leah continues to deliver her lesson, breaking off occasionally to bring an absent pupil back up to speed.

Lizzie said: “Our approach to pupils is very much based around PACE values – Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy – which is really important because it helps us build safe, trusting relationships with our young people. For me having empathy is hugely important. How can we support our pupils if we don’t understand how they’re feeling?”

At lunchtime, there’s a brief opportunity for Lizzie and the other school TAs who are not on duty to relax but it’s soon time for Lizzie, Becky and Hayley to gather up the pupils ready for guided reading and to distribute workbooks ready for PSHE with teacher Nicole Rubery.

Nicole is teaching PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) and today’s topic ‘Navigating Work, Study and Careers’ leads to discussions around potential career options. Whilst Mia expresses an interest in becoming a police dog handler, her classmates are less sure what career path they might like to follow.

As the day moves on, the pupils understandably get more tired and this leads to lapses in concentration which is where the TAs come into their own.

“Quite often a pupil can lose concentration so it’s important that we’re listening to what the teacher is saying so we can help re-engage them," said Lizzie. "Knowing how to do the work yourself is one thing but being able to communicate that knowledge in a way that helps the pupil understand is completely different – and can sometimes be a challenge. You’re learning all the time.”

Before the fifth and final lesson of the day, there was a quick movement break which gave time for Lizzie to prepare for the Art lesson she is due to deliver, with teacher Leah this time providing TA support.

The expanding foam Lizzie had hoped would arrive in time for her ‘foam sculpture’ lesson – part of an Abstract Art module - didn’t materialise so, like any resourceful educator, she had to improvise.

In true Blue Peter style, Lizzie’s improvisation involved paper towels and masking tape with the pupils asked to draw and then create a 3-D prototype of their sculpture which the youngsters threw themselves into, ably supported by Lizzie and her TA support.

The plan was that they would look to replicate their creations in foam at a later date.

As one might expect in any SEND educational setting, the day wasn’t without the odd emotional outburst – pupils not TAs – but these were professionally and empathetically handled to the point where they diffused quickly.

Understandably, as the last lesson drew to a close there was a mixture of excitement and fatigue among the pupils but they remained engaged and were keen to take their creations home with them.

By 3pm the pupils were ready to depart and there’s barely time to give the classroom a quick tidy up before the afternoon staff briefing at 3.15pm, which gives Lizzie the chance to go over the events of the day with her colleagues and deal with any necessary communications with parents/carers.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays there’s after-school training in Continuous Professional Development, or Safeguarding or Speech and Language Therapy otherwise, it’s an opportunity for Lizzie to prep for future Art lessons.

Spending the day in year 9 and having an insight into the role of a TA was a privilege and, as I left the school, I thought if Severnside’s TAs were representative of the standard of teaching support provided across the Group, then Aurora is blessed with some very talented educators.
 

Pictured top: Lizzie with pupil Lydia in Art class