Lucy Gentle

My current role is a non-teaching Head of Year position. I am responsible for overseeing the pastoral, attendance, safeguarding and behaviour support for a year group in a large secondary school. I liaise with parents, staff and a variety of external agencies to ensure all aspects of the pupils educational and welfare needs are addressed and appropriate support is accessed. Through effective leadership and management, I foster a positive atmosphere within the year group whilst promoting the school's ethos and values. During my time in this role, I developed an onsite EBSA provision, providing support and services for those pupils struggling with school attendance.

This role was a maternity cover position in which I was responsible for overseeing the support provided for pupils who were Looked After or Previously Looked After Children or dual registered pupils. I led multidisciplinary and parental meetings ensuring that the needs of the pupils were met and funding was spent in such a way that promoted inclusivity and accessibility to relevant services. Alongside this I ran nurture groups and ELSA sessions for pupils from across the year groups, providing emotional support and mentoring.

Working in the SEN department of a large secondary School I promoted inclusivity and encouraged independent learning habits amongst pupils through consistent mentoring. I provided behavioural management strategies to maintain disciplined atmosphere and liaised with staff and parents at parent-teacher meetings, communicating effectively about pupil progress. I improved student engagement by providing one-on-one support and guidance.

• I provided high quality Ofsted registered care for children aged 6 months to 11 years of age in a home-based setting. I was responsible for planning play based activities and experiences to stimulate and support learning and development at an appropriate level designed to meet individual needs.

• As an agency Social Worker, I practiced in several different settings as a front-line Child Protection professional. These positions included a hospital-based setting, Family Intervention Services and Reception and Referral Teams across several boroughs of London. Through this role I built upon my Social Work skills, working closely with children, families, professionals and agencies to safeguard the welfare of individual children. I was part of the government Family Intervention Service pilot scheme, in which I worked intensively with families with the goal being to prevent family crisis, court action and children being removed from their birth families.

• As a newly qualified social worker I worked in a frontline reception and referral team as a Child Protection Social Worker. This role involved working closely with other professional agencies, schools and families where concerns had been raised for the wellbeing of a child. I held an additional role within the Emergency Duty Team as an out of hours support worker, dealing with all fields of Social Work and any incidents occurring after office hours.

• Working within a Looked After Children’s team I had various responsibilities including assessment and report writing, supervising contact, placement visits, multi agencies meetings and producing life story books whilst holding substantial caseloads.

• Within this position I helped to plan, oversee, maintain and organize a clean and friendly childcare environment. I supervised activities such as arts and crafts, cooking and role play as well as supporting outdoor activities and outings.