Georgina Birch

I currently work in the pre school at Holy Trinity School Dobcross. I have been working at the school for over 3 years now and have been in the pre school for approximately 1 year. I work both during the day and in the evening for the pre school after school club which is for children in pre school and reception class. We are situated within the school so are linked very closely to all the amenities, for example, we go into the school hall for lunch with reception and class 1.

I absolutely love working in the pre school, it is extremely rewarding and to see the change in the children over the year is amazing. The relationship you develop with them is so rewarding. They love to come for cuddles, they feel comfortable with you when they are hurt or feel unwell and there just generally happy to see you when wither you or they walk through the door. We do a variety of outdoor and indoor activities and have a structure to the day so there is learning in with the play. There is morning registration, some learning time, a play time, a story, lunch time, a learning activity, play time, then a story for home time. It is a really fun place to work and I have built up a really good relationship with many children over the time I have been there so far. We do have students who come through with additional needs and it is important to know how to help these children. Over my 3 years at Holy Trinity I have spent time with some children with additional needs. As a pre school team we work very well together and know every single child individually. It is very important for me to know all the parents or grand parents as when I do the evenings, I will generally be the one who releases the child to their grown up. I am happy to work as a a team or on an individual basis, as I have done both of these in my current role. I have done small groups of phonics, done reading with groups, craft activities and have also read to the class as a whole.

I have worked as a midday supervisor for over 3 years. The duties of this job include monitoring one class either outside or inside, weather dependent. One of my roles is organising the lunchtime games and the running of the hall for 32 students. At the moment I work with year 4 however I have worked with all the years at some point as we move round the school. I feel I have built up a good relationship with most of the students in the school. There is zero tolerance on bullying and violence any harmful behaviour is dealt with and if need be, referred up the line.

Administering first aid is also an important part of my role and this also includes reporting accidents appropriately.

In the hall, we try to maintain a certain level of behaviour, it is important to encourage this with the children and we try to maintain high levels of cleanliness by promptly cleaning up spillages, wiping down all the tables and making sure the children take their litter with them.

Every day there is a team of 3 staff both outside and in the hall and we have a good working relationship as a team to make sure the lunch time runs smoothly and efficiently. I am always keen to work as part of a team and am also happy that when we transition from the playground to the hall, I am on my own with the whole class. When this occurs, I take them back inside, we change into indoor shoes and wash hands, sit down in places, then I line them up and we go smartly to the hall. Should there be an indoor play due to the weather, we have games monitors and there is a selection of games in the classroom. Once you have gained a good relationship with the children and the boundaries have been set then they know the rules and the routine, then yes it may be a challenge at times but it is rewarding.

I worked for Fiona Johnson for almost 3 years. I did all the secretarial work for her. Fiona is an independent expert witness who goes out to see people who have had accidents, whether it be clinical negligence or personal injury, and will assess them as to what equipment or support they may require. She is highly skilled and has a team of occupational therapists, speech therapists, midwifery and physiotherapists behind her as well as being a registered nurse herself. My main role was keeping up to date with all her admin, typing up reports from visits and managing her diary. This was a very full on job, one of which I enjoyed. There was a small team of 4 of us who worked for her and we all worked really well as a team.

Alongside this I also, on occasions, did some typing work for her husband who is a QC and has his office above Fionas. This was highly confidential as he could take on some big cases. I found this very interesting.

I worked in Ski Miquel for over ten years. Over the years I gained more and more responsibility. I had a few roles, the invoicing of the holidays was probably the main one, alongside taking all the payments from abroad, payments from guests for their holidays bookings, booking flights and speaking with the airlines, communicating with the resort staff to ensure everything was okay and generally keeping things running smoothly. There was a team of 5 of us in the office and we all worked well together. If extra hours needed to be done then this happened and this is something I am always happy to do. During the winter ski season it was a very demanding job but one which I enjoyed.