JESSICA STANIFORTH

I started my career in the council on the apprenticeship programme. Here I learnt a variety of skills within the role, whilst completing written assignments as part of my studies. I achieved a grade distinction for my qualification. My key responsibilities included.

• Welcoming customers and visitors to Tameside One with a friendly demeanour as the first point of contact within the building.
• Answering enquiries and providing information about the services within the council.
• Performing administrative tasks such as photocopying, booking rooms and sending emails.
• Maintaining the reception area by keeping information leaflets stocked and the desk tidy.
• Booking appointments for customer service officers and informing customers of the documentation they should provide.
• Completing training relevant to the role.
• Demonstrated patience whilst dealing with challenging customers, maintaining professionalism at all times.
• Following GDPR policies to keep customers' confidential information safe and protected.
• Administering visitor passes to ensure only authorised individuals have access to the building.
• Signposting customers to the correct department.
• Supporting the Blue Badge team by completing data entry.

I began to volunteer at the charity shop as I continued to apply to jobs. I wanted to connect with my local community, learn new skills and support a cause I cared about. My duties included:

• Processing bags of donations, sorting through clothes to ensure good quality stock was displayed in the store.
• Tagging items, ensuring to distinguish Gift Aid items with a different colour tag and label.
• Keeping the processing organised by keeping clothes and donation bags in the correct sections, tidying my workspace during and after every shift.
• Steaming items to reduce creases and create a fresh look for the donations.
• Working within the PDSA policies and guidelines.
• Trained on the till to serve customers, processed different forms of payments, accepting donations and delivered friendly service.

During this role I was able to work on my administrative, data input and organisational skills, as well as my ability to think quickly whilst dealing with highly demanding situations. I was able to utilise my people skills and help provide additional support for colleagues. My key responsibilities within this role included:

• Supervised students in classrooms, halls, cafeterias, school yards, and gymnasiums, or on field trips providing safe, supportive environment.
• Providing one to one support for pupils, SEN children, as well as daily support for the teaching staff, including ensuring organisation of the classroom as well as other necessary administrative tasks.
• Use of the school CMS system.
• Ensuring personalised development plans had been implemented correctly and discussing this with parents and teaching staff when further support was required.
• Helping to provide extra support for pupils who required this, being able to reinterpret the information in a way that could be understood by pupils that may not understand the first time.
• Taking part in training and conducting risk assessments as well as safeguarding and first aid.
• Maintaining a positive attitude when dealing with disruptive pupils and being able to redirect this behaviour.
• Developing creative learning materials to keep pupils engaged.
• Liaising with organisations to create strategies for pupil progression.
• Volunteering for school events to provide additional support where possible.

I started my career at Stalyhill Junior School as a part-time midday supervisor and was able to progress to the role of part-time volunteer teaching assistant which allowed me to develop my skills in the education sector, as well as learn more administration and organisational skills. My key responsibilities during this role included:

• Multitasking various roles in a fast paced environment whilst ensuring pupils' safety is paramount.
• Ensuring any new and unexpected tasks are completed effectively and in a timely manner.
• Providing support for both the teaching faculty and pupils, individually and in small groups.
• Conducting administrative tasks and ensuring a clean and tidy environment for the pupils and staff.
• Supervision of pupils during lessons and break times with a focus on safety and wellbeing.
• Dealing with misbehaviour in pupils and reporting any incidents to higher management.
• Helping to de-escalate and intervene with any potentially dangerous pupil behaviour and monitoring pupils safety.