Shaping Learning For Life
Learning support staff
When you enter any one of our classrooms, you’d be forgiven for not knowing who was the teacher and who was the learning support assistant – we are rightly proud of this. Our support staff are skilled practitioners themselves, some of whom are teachers or are training to teacher, others have specialisms in SEN provision or Early Years. Whatever skills, they are dedicated to making our school the very best place it can be for children. In our school, we don’t use the term Learning Support Assistant (LSA) but we do use ‘teacher’ as this is how the children see them.
Mrs Holdich
Year 5/6 & THRIVE lead practitioner
After moving to Stockbridge and her two children joining our school, we were lucky to bag Mrs Holdich as a key part of our LSA team. She is quick on her feet at thinking up creative things for our children’s learning to be maximised and is also our THRIVE link teacher, working with children individually and in small groups to support their emotional and social development. She also supports children in Year 5/6 for 3 mornings a week and, along with Mrs Jefferies, is chief minibus driver!
Mrs Tanner
SEN LSA
With extensive experience in our pre-school, Mrs Tanner has rejoined the team after a short hiatus and is proving worth her weight in Early Years gold! She has a natural enthusiasm for our younger children and can often be found in the midst of a mountain of glitter or mud! Whilst working 1:1 with a child, she also works with smaller groups and brilliantly supports our SEN children.
Ms. Kott
Year 1/2
With a background in adult education and health support, Ms. Kott is a great new addition to our team. Ms. Kott brilliantly supports Year 1/2 in Redbridge class and with 3 children of her own she has a good understanding of what our young children love to do and how they learn.
Miss Hatt
Year R
Miss Hatt joined us this September 2023 and, along with Mrs Thomson, creates an exciting learning environment for Year R in Sprat & Winkle class. She is frequently found outside in our Early Years area getting very muddy in the mud kitchen, having a go on the trikes and bikes, hiding in homemade dens and much more exciting learning!
Mrs Holden
SEN LSA – Upper School
Mrs Holden joined us mid-pandemic and has been a real asset despite things not being ‘normal’! She has a huge amount of talent and experience at working with children with special educational needs and this is translating into 1:1 work she is currently undertaking with us. Her husband is a serving soldier which helps her also understand the pressures and challenges our service children face.
Mrs Reynolds
Year 4/5
Mrs Reynolds has proved worth her weight in gold since joining us in January 2022 – we hope that this is just the toe in the water as she has always wanted to be a teacher. Hearing her work with our Year 4/5 children, it’s obvious that she has a natural flair for the role and always manages to find a practical way around complicated concepts. Naturally creative, Mrs Reynolds works across the school at lunchtimes also to provide continuity of care for all our children.
Mrs Thomas
Year 2/3
A nurse by trade (ward sister no less!), Mrs Thomas is embracing a new career and proving an incredible asset to Year 2/3 who love working with her and playing with her during lunch times too. She makes sure every child is supported and heard whilst challenging them to do their best in all they attempt and can often be found crouching down at a table or kneeling on the floor next to a child to take time to explain something or show them how it’s done before enabling them to do it themselves.
Mrs Skipwith
Year 1/2
With older children of her own, Mrs Skipwith has bravely stepped into the education world and is taking to it like a duck to water. She works with Mrs Cooper and Ms Kott to support Year 1/2 children master phonics, grapple with new mathematics concepts and support their learning in all other parts of the curriculum. As a professional cyclist who has represented GB, she knows a thing or two about resilience and determination and it’s rubbing off on the children too!