Having had two children in a short space of time, I was very much aware that my work/family life balance needed to be addressed. We were happy to support her career development while retaining her skills in our school every morning. She regularly supports and advises the whole staff team on wellbeing activities.Īs her own business as a mindfulness consultant has developed, she requested to reduce some afternoons in school in order to deliver sessions in a community hub. She was given the opportunity to train as a mindfulness practitioner for children and she was able to work as a higher level teaching assistant delivering whole class mindfulness sessions and group sessions to identified pupils. Jo has worked as a teaching assistant for over 12 years as part of our team. This flexibility enables me to follow my passion, whilst still carrying out the job I love, supporting children who find school difficult and for this I am most grateful.
I discussed this with my Headteacher, she was extremely supportive and agreed that I could drop 3 of my afternoons. I then decided, in order to make the most of the space I had, that I would offer a similar service to mothers and toddlers, meaning I could use my space on afternoons.
#MYSCHOOL CARMEL COLLEGE FULL#
I now had an amazing room which children and parents loved but because I was working full time, I was only utilising this space for a maximum of 2 hours a day, limiting the amount of children I could reach. This proved very popular, but I found myself in a bit of a catch 22 situation. With this in mind, I began to look at rooms to rent and I was lucky enough to be offered a room in a local hub and started to run after school sessions to children throughout the town. Our school is among a small minority, were staff are released to concentrate solely on this practice, therefore some children in other schools, may never get the chance to experience Mindfulness, gaining valuable life skills. Teacher – Reduction in working days to accommodate secondary employmentĪfter delivering Mindfulness sessions within my school setting to pupils throughout KS1 and KS2 and seeing the benefits, I started to look into how more children could be reached. It has also meant Ruth has been able to be released to deliver Rainbows sessions for pupils who have suffered loss. A job share with a newly qualified teacher this year has been particularly successful as we have been able to build in some additional intervention time for the class and lots of support for the new teacher including the opportunity to observe or work alongside. After the birth of her first child she asked if she could reduce her hours to three days a week. Ruth is an experienced teacher who teaches in Key Stage 2 and leads Design Technology and our Rainbows and Mini-Vinnies groups. Our leadership team support me if I want to attend these sessions and can swap my working days if needed. I am always invited along to PD days and other training sessions, whether it is on my usual working days or not. I can take my son to nursery and pick him up, which is so important to him and means I can show him how important his education is to me.
Working three days means I can teach to my full potential, give more back to school, and enjoy my job! I am able to have a really good balance with work and family time. School were very supportive of this change and understood my reasons to request this. I currently work 3 full days a week and have done so since October 2017, when I returned from maternity leave. Teacher – Reduction in working days for work life balance
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