Sophie Swallow
Huddersfield,West Berkshire
Summary
Special education professional with extensive experience in behavior management and trauma response. Demonstrated success in creating inclusive learning environments and collaborating with teams to address diverse student needs. Committed to continuous improvement and innovative educational practices, particularly for vulnerable teenage boys facing challenges in mainstream settings. Proven ability to support students in achieving their full potential through tailored interventions and support strategies.
Overview
19
19
years of professional experience
4
4
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Indiuvial support worker
THE WILLIAM HENRY SMITH SCHOOL
Huddersfield
2022.09 - 2026.01
- Due to my current role at William Henry snith foundation I have lots of experience working with boys aged 13 to 16.
- I am currently working as a learning support worker for vubreable boys who have suffered trauma or have semh.
- Some of the boys I work closely with also have autism adhd or aspergher.
- All of the students i curretnly work within our specialist collage follow an bespoke education programme, including literacy and numeracy, in addition to completing external further education courses at local colleges.
- WE follow a bespoke learning pathway that coincides with college learning, encompassing all gaps in learning through 1:1 tuition within my team i help Students access to a range of additional accreditations through the OCR and Virtual College platforms and also support in further education and work placements.
- I help give our boys the relevant support and advice to achieve their full potential and opportunities on offer include accessing lessons within school and events, college visits, work experience, volunteering, apprenticeships and University visits to identify their future options.
- My day to day role can be very busy and can change from day to day which means I can work well under pressure and often have to think on my feet to help regulate our students and keep routine.
- I contribute to helping the boys learn an delvop in a comfortable and more laid back approach as they have struggled in other schools.
- The boys have a personalised time table which offer a range of subjects they have chosen and want to work towards for there gsces.
- I also contribute to help with work experience for them and help them learn life skills to help with the transition into adult hood and build there self esteem and confidence as this may have been knocked or they haven't been in education for a long time.
- I imput day to day diaries on a system called sid which I track there day to day and any safeguarding concerns that may occur I can log and pass on to the relevant safeguarding lead or in some cases contact there social workers.
- Alpt of pur boys have safeguarding issues around there home life and have to deal with diffwrnt situations day to day to help them overcome Struggles they may be experiencing.
- Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is an approach that we use to support behaviour change in the children I care for.
- This is a traditional method we use , our school focus is not on 'fixing' the person, or on the challenging behaviour itself and never uses punishment/sanctions as a strategy for dealing with the behaviour of concern.
- We help input the PBS system to help our boys to use alternative behaviour and promotes enabling environments to support the children.
- PBS helps our boys achieve a better quality of life by increasing the number of ways they are able to meet these needs: for example, by developing communication skills.
- Which I imput in my every day role.
- I helps our boys learn new skills.
- And For new skills to be used regularly, they have to be more effective than the challenging behaviour.
- I help make this happen by understanding the reasons children which addtentionl needs our display challenging behaviour, and by making sure the new behaviours we want to teach are reinforced in the same way.
- Whislt using pbs plans I try to build positive relationships, with our boys.
- And use student reflection to help support our children to think about the many contributing factors to their presenting behaviours.
- I offer my boys the time and space which means these conversations allow the children to think about the emotional and physiological changes they experience before, during and after the behaviours they present that challenge us.
- Once we can label these thoughts and feelings then we can begin to put strategies in place to support the children to be able to choose from a number of different responses to the thoughts and feeling they now recognise and understand.
- Over time the positive responses to these different choices reinforce the children's view that an expression of their thoughts and feelings don't have to result in a negative experience or response.
- Therefore, supporting behavioural change.
- I work closely with families and support there needs competing personal independent forms and also supporting and inputting data in to educational health care plans.
- I deal very closely with students who have experienced trauma and us my skills and knowledge to help input day to day skills to help support there needs.
SEN Teaching Assistant
Castle hill school
Huddersfield
2016.01 - 2026.01
- Helping children with a wide range of severe learning, physical or behavioural difficulties.
- And supporting there needs in every way possible to make them thrive in school.
- Supporting children with gastro feeds and there healtcare needs and working closely with children with eplisey and caring and monitoring them closely and working nurses to help them in these challenging times they may face.
- Supporting schoolwork under the supervision of the teacher.
- Working closely with differnt children with different special educational needs making sure to adapt to there needs for them to thrive in there education and activities provided in schoo.
- Following tand planning targets around them and there educational health care plans and mapp targets and there enagment profiles.
- Preparing learning resources.for the childs needs and targets helping them thrive in there education.
- Encouraging children's confidence, self esteem and independence.
- To aid the pupil to learn as effectively as possible both in group situations and on his/her own.
- Look after children's physical, social and emotional welfare.
- Create a stimulating environment. For all children's needs.
Temporary Relief Nursery Nurse
Heatherfield Private Day Nursery
Huddersfield
2014.11 - 2026.01
- Assisting staff with day-to-day nursery duties, including:
- # Toilet/changing requirements
- # Child development
- # Mealtime Assistance
- # Creating Recreational Activities for children aged 3-5 years old to participate in
- # Supervising child care activities
- # Communicating with and listening to the children
- # Handling emergency situations
Childcare Representative (Kids Club) - Summer Season
Calderdale Council
Halifax
2015.01 - 2016.03
- Have responsibilities for the day to day care of the children's daily routine.
- In this role I am involved in meeting and greeting parents/carers, and also planning, observing and tracking children around the early year's foundation stage.
- I have my own key children which Iplan around and input the Early Years Foundation Stage and planning cycle we have in place in our pre-school room keeping up to date with their learning journeys.
- I have attended in-house safeguarding and other key meetings with other professionals, for example health visitors/social workers and family intervention workers.
- I work closely with parents keeping up to date with their child's development through key worker meetings and regular parents evenings and organise activitysessions through the months of half term for parents to attendwhich are called FAST sessions (Fun Activity Sharing Time).
- I contribute to circle times with the children getting them ready for school and have been taking part in their transition to school.
- I have completed different sessions with them using lots of different resources such as ECAT bags and various stories and equipment to help them prepare for school.
- I have responsibilities for keeping up to datewith all children and theirattendance and if they are funded by the government making sure they are accessing these hours and contacting parents if they are not attending their sessions.
- I have helped contribute to the PLODS system for speech and language and help promote any activities to help support these children if they need extra help.
- Since starting I have learnt a lot of new things and am still putting these into practice and willing to learn, I have undergone in house training for the planning and key worker systems aswell as doing eLearning for safeguarding, manual handling training and food hygiene and in-house training for early language development plans.
- I am currently the lead mentor in my room for health and safety as well as accident and incidents.
- I have taken part in keeping the maintenance of the forest school area and planning activity sessions for the children, evaluatingand evidencing the forest school sessions and making sure these are carried out as a structured timetable to ensure all children attended.
- I have recently attended training on the Grow Big project which is being trialed in children's centers, I have fed back details into staff meetings and working alongside anotherteam member to take a lead role in the project.
- I have being working closely with a child who has Autism and been liaisingwith their family and other professionals to make sure his needs are met including following his own individual learning development plan to help the child reach small achievable steps.
Childcare Representative (Kids Club) - Summer Season
Thomas Cook
Portugal, majorca and menorca
2012.04 - 2014.11
- To continue my experience in childcare I decided to work overseas and experience the differences in working in a local day nursery as well as learning new cultures and living in a different country.
- My key responsibilities were:
- # Setting up the children's club prior to the hotel opening and creating a schedule of activities (Ages 3-11)
- # Ensuring health and safety standards were adhered to and the children in my care were comfortable at all times
- # Working in a creche environment with children aged 6 months - 3 years, planning activities to meet there needs
- # Assisting the Head Rep with her day-to-day management responsibilities. Responsible for covering tasks in their absence and on days off
- # Hosting children's mini disco on stage
- # Welcoming guests to the hotel upon arrival and delivering information to assist their stay
- # Guiding tourist trips ensuring the guests have a fun and safe excursion
- # Assisting guests with any questions or problems, they may incur during their stay.
- # Seeing guests off ensuring they have all the relevant information required for their onward journey
- # Managing site paperwork
- # Working as part of a team and individually
- # Charity volunteer, raising money for the Thomas Cook Charity Fund
- Completed 'Step Up to be a Head Rep' program creating a portfolio over 4 weeks, items included were -
- 1. Customer Focus - Designed wet weather program
- 2. Results Focus - Implemented new team incentive
- 3. Communication - Delivered 3 x team meetings
- 4. Decision Making - Produced report and highlighted changes for next season
- 5. Implementation - Created new pack for next season's team
- 6. Team-building - Organised 2 events
- 7. Performance Management - Observed 2 activities and 2 mini discos and provided feedback
- Following completion of the above portfolio and at the end of the season attended 3 day Introduction to Management course focusing on leadership, development, motivation and team performance/management.
Assistant Early Years Practitioner
Elland Children's Centre
Elland
2007.09 - 2012.04
- Whilst studying for NVQ Level 2 Childcare and Development I worked voluntarily at Elland Children's Centre.
- On completion of my course, I was offered permanent employment.
- During my full time employment, I studied and passed my NVQ Level 3 Childcare and Development.
- The centre provides childcare for up to 30 children aged 0-5 years of age.
- The children I worked with were aged 2 - 5 years old, although I also have experience working with the younger age group from 3 months - 2 years.
- My key responsibilities were:
- # Ensuring health and safety standards were adhered to and the children in my care were comfortable at all times
- # Conducting planning for Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
- O Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- O Communication, Language and Literacy
- O Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
- O Knowledge and Understanding of the World
- O Physical Development
- O Creative Development
- # Creating and developing activities to interact with the children and provide a fun learning environment
- # Providing supervision and assistance during meal periods, toilet/changing requirements and day-to-day child development
- # Recording children's injures existing injures and accidents in the setting or at home
- # Liaising with parents and carers
- # Supporting all staff to work as part of a team
Student
Aspley Day Nursery
Huddersfield
2006.09 - 2007.06
- During Year 11 at All Saints R.C Catholic College, I studied child development.
- As part of the course I worked at Aspley Day Nursery, 2 days per week, this provided a foundation in childcare skills and confirmed my choice of career.
Education
NVQ Level 3 - Childcare and Development
A and R Training
Huddersfield 2010.01 - 2012.01
NVQ Level 2 - Childcare and Development
Kirklees College
Huddersfield 2007.01 - 2008.01
3 GCSEs - English, Science and Mathematics
All Saints R.C High School
HuddersfieldNVQ Level 3 - Mental health
Mental health in children and young level 3
Huddersfield, Kirklees 2020.03 - 2020.11
Skills
- Special education expertise
- Positive demeanor
- Adaptability and problem-solving
- Team collaboration
- Empathy and support
- Strong work ethic
- Behavior management understanding
- Trauma response expertise
Affiliations
- spending time with family
- walking , gym
Accomplishments
i have lots of skills of skills and knowledge within my role
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Indiuvial support worker
THE WILLIAM HENRY SMITH SCHOOL
2022.09 - 2026.01
NVQ Level 3 - Mental health
Mental health in children and young level 3
2020.03 - 2020.11
SEN Teaching Assistant
Castle hill school
2016.01 - 2026.01
Childcare Representative (Kids Club) - Summer Season
Calderdale Council
2015.01 - 2016.03
Temporary Relief Nursery Nurse
Heatherfield Private Day Nursery
2014.11 - 2026.01
Childcare Representative (Kids Club) - Summer Season
Thomas Cook
2012.04 - 2014.11
NVQ Level 3 - Childcare and Development
A and R Training
2010.01 - 2012.01
Assistant Early Years Practitioner
Elland Children's Centre
2007.09 - 2012.04
NVQ Level 2 - Childcare and Development
Kirklees College
2007.01 - 2008.01
Student
Aspley Day Nursery
2006.09 - 2007.06
3 GCSEs - English, Science and Mathematics
All Saints R.C High School