Sarah Harland

I began my teaching career as an EYFS teacher at Hilltop Primary School in Strood after graduating from Canterbury Christ Church University. During my NQT year I was part of a very supportive team who helped me to develop the skills required to become a fully qualified teacher. As my school had a pool on site, I was required to teach my children from term 5 to swim. This meant that I had to take a swimming course which involved me learning the skills required to effectively teach the children, including water safety and safe guarding. I only remained at this school for a year because of the distance I had to travel each day to work, however, I feel that by working at Hilltop I gained so much experience in working with children from a deprived area. It helped to foster my nurturing side and made me realise that the passion I feel for teaching especially in the early years was something I would feel for a lifetime. The EYFS lays the foundation for a child's future and if they have a passionate and dedicated teacher willing to support them as individuals then it can make so much difference.

After leaving Hilltop I began working at St George's CE Primary School as a reception teacher. I worked alongside a very experienced teacher, who helped me to develop my career further and came with a wealth of knowledge. We developed a very open planned learning environment where the children could move freely between both classrooms and the outside area. I believe that play-based learning is vital especially in the early years and can help embed a child's learning fully. This is something that I feel passionately about and whilst at St George's I used with not only my reception class but also with my year 1,2 and 3 classes. I tried to create memorable experiences for children in order to spark their curiosity and imagination. I found that this led to the children being more engaged and choosing to take control of their own learning

I was a member of staff at St George's for nearly 6 years and during my time there I attended lots of training courses including Pie Corbett, safeguarding, paediatric first aid training, mentor training for trainee teachers from CCCU and Read Write Inc. As a mentor I was responsible for helping to train and advise primary education students from Canterbury Christ Church University. I would conduct weekly meetings, portfolio checks, lesson observations and support them with lesson planning and assessments. Over my time at St George's, I was the subject lead for lots of different subjects, these included Art, History and Geography, Phonics and Accelerated Reader. As part of this I would conduct observations of my colleagues during these lessons and then use the feedback to help implement a more accessible and engaging curriculum for the children.

The catchment area of St George's fell within a more affluent area than Hilltop but one with high SEND needs. This meant that I had to work very closely with the SENDCO to identify those children who required additional support. I attended pupil progress meetings, gathered the evidence required for LIFT meetings and referrals and I organised and planned effective interventions for the children, which I would evaluate and adapt at the start of every term. As a reception teacher I would also liaise with the local nurseries to ensure the children starting school had the best possible start with support already in place for them. This would ensure that not only the child felt supported but also their parents or carers. I would also conduct home visits for all children starting which allowed the children and parents to feel safe with myself and my TA. This meant that they were able to share their worries or concerns with me in an environment that was less formal. We found that the children loved sharing their homes with us and it gave us a great foundation to help engage their interests and plan effective learning opportunities based on their interests.

When my husband and I decided to start a family, we felt that it would be beneficial for our children if I went part time. For 3 years I job shared with various teachers all of whom had different teaching styles and ways of working. I feel that this aided my professional development because I had to work closely within my own classroom with another teacher and develop a cohesive teaching style. We had regular PPA meetings where we discussed planning, assessments and interventions needed for our class. We made sure that our support staff felt included in the planning and running of the classroom and that their voice was heard. An effect team only works well when everyone feels like their opinions and experience are valued and taken on board.

After 6 years an opportunity arose for me to move schools. I moved to St Edward's Catholic Primary School where I took on a reception class midway through the academic year. This school was one form entry and situated in a very deprived area. I had a class of 25 students, 8 of which had EAL and 2 who required 1:1 TAs. This posed new challenges for me as I had to learn to adapt my teaching style to accommodate them. Several of my class also had safeguarding needs. This meant that I had to attend regular meetings with the designated safeguarding lead and the children's parents. We would work tirelessly to ensure that our children felt safe and secure in school at all times and we would often have to take on a more nurturing role making sure the children had their basic needs cared for, for example, having breakfast or warm clothes. A number of children had lower starting points and were really struggling to access the curriculum. When I initially assessed them in the January I had to feed back to the senior leaders and governors, that as little as 15% of the class would make the Early Learning Goal by moderation in June. The school had already signed up to an early year's programme called Early Excellence and it was decided that I would attend the training along with one of my 4 TA's. The course run for the entirety of the year and comprised of training sessions in London and all over Kent once or twice a term. We also had the course advisors visit our school and help us to make our learning environment more holistic and accessible for every child. My colleague and I had to complete coursework and presentations to show how we had taken what we had learnt from the course and implemented it into our planning and teaching. I headed up the Early Years team and together we successfully achieved over 65% of the children reaching the ELG by June. We put in a lot of hard work and effort but seeing the children access their learning to the best of their ability only helped to solidify my passion for my career choice.

When my head approached me to tell me she would be leaving St Edward's at the end of the academic year to lead a school in Maidstone which adopted a very different style of teaching I leapt at the idea to join her in the new venture at Tiger Primary School. I headed up the Early Years department of the two-form entry school whilst pregnant with my third child. The school had an open plan learning style with each year group occupying a shared space. Within the EYFS this worked very well as it meant we could offer so many more play-based learning opportunities based on the children's interests. I used the knowledge I had gained from the Early Excellence course and developed a learning environment which fostered the children's imagination. We were very fortunate to have a vast outdoor space which included a forest area. I planned activities where the children could use all of their space and they loved being outside in the nature areas. The children developed their fine and gross motor skills and their imagination came alive. As the lead teacher I was responsible for a team of 5 adults (3TAs and 1 student teacher). I was the mentor for the other teacher and I would regularly meet with her to discuss her professional development and offer my support with her planning and assessments. I conducted regular observations of her teaching and set her targets to help with her progression.

After our third child was born my husband and I decided that I would take a career break from teaching as the cost of childcare and the demands of a fulltime leadership role were too much for our young family. Our older children needed support as they had SEND needs and needed someone who would be able to be there for them constantly. We had our own electrical firm, which my husband had until now run solely so I decided that in order to be around for the children I would become a director too and support my husband. I took on the job of office manager, a role I could complete around my children and with a small baby. My duties within the business included running payroll, book keeping, chasing invoices, human resources, staff welfare, CPD, purchasing uniform and liaising with the accountant and HMRC. We had 7 members of staff on the payroll and it was my duty to help allocate jobs and ensure that all work was completed to a high standard. Whilst this role challenged me and I gained a lot of experience in another field I found I still have a true passion for education and working with children.

In October 2023 I signed up to Simply Education as a supply teacher as a way to ease myself and my family back into the routine of having two full time working parents. During this time I completed two long term placements. The first being at a primary school in Sheerness within the EYFS department, teaching a class of 18 reception children and working closely with the SENDCO and intervention staff due to the exceptionally high need within the class. The second was also based in EYFS. I job shared with another teacher in a reception/nursery department. This too had exceptionally high need. When myself and my job share took over in term 5 the predicted GLD was just 30%. By the end of term 6 that rate had improved to 51% and an Ofsted rating of good.

An opportunity arose for me to take on a permanent position at the school and since September 2024 I have been working in Year 1 on a part time basis. This role has been exceptionally challenging because of the unprecedented need within the class but it has also been extremely rewarding as well.

Due to a change in family circumstances, sourcing childcare for my four children has become challenging and the need for me to work around their schooling has become a necessity. I love teaching and helping children to flourish so becoming a tutor seems like the perfect solution to our current predicament.