Helen Glanville, Victoria Park Primary School

I have been working at Victoria Park Primary School for 24 years. I started by volunteering as a mum and then progressed to working at the school. I was keen to undertake training for my new role as my previous career had been very different and my qualifications were in analytical chemistry. I attended the Specialist Teaching Assistant training followed by many other courses including Community Sports Leader Award, HLTA, NVQ assessor and Support Staff Team Leader training.
My current role is Support Staff Training and Development Officer. This role includes many responsibilities including Team Leader for a team of approximately 30 TAs and HLTAs. It includes:
 organising, delivering and co-ordinating training for the team via weekly staff meetings and INSET days.
 coordinating Phase Shadowing for the team so that they can gain insight into other phases within school.
 carrying out Performance Management meetings and reviews.
 observing all TAs and giving them written feedback.
 working with my team to develop performance descriptors to clarify our assessments when grading TAs. This work is ongoing and will be revisited regularly.
I am Student Coordinator throughout the school. This includes supporting Teacher Training Students, TA students and school students on work experience as well as other volunteers. I am the Work Based Mentor for all of our Teacher Training Students and carry out regular meetings with them. I also liaise with class teachers about the students’ progress. We accept a lot of TA students from local colleges and I coordinate their placements as well as work experience placements and other volunteers. Part of this role is carrying out their induction and checking that we adhere to our safeguarding procedures. This role was previously undertaken by the Deputy Head.
I am mentor to two TA apprentices each year which includes liaison with the colleges and supporting the students. I have recently accepted a role as Employee Ambassador to work alongside the college to develop the TA apprenticeships. I also mentor newly appointed members of staff and I cover classes for PPA two afternoons a week, as well as supporting pupils in Year 2 four mornings a week.
My role is ever changing and growing. I will be less classroom based next year so that I can spend more time managing and developing the team, as well as having non-contact for my other responsibilities.