West Meon Primary School
Onsite learning for teaching assistants
West Meon Primary School is a small rural school in Hampshire with 70 pupils on roll. Teaching assistants work alongside the teachers to support personalised learning in mixed-age classes.Headteacher Hilary Hopkins first became interested in helping teaching assistants develop their skills for life after appointing three new members of staff. ”Hampshire local authority had been promoting skills for life and this seemed like a good starting point for training support staff, some of whom had been out of work and training for some time,” explains Hilary. “I decided to get in touch with the local authority and see what options were available.”
Hilary told her teaching assistants about the opportunities on offer. There was a positive response, particularly to the idea of brushing up numeracy skills. With the support of the local authority, Hilary got in touch with the local learndirect team who came into the school to carry out initial assessments and advise her on setting up an onsite learning centre.
Seven teaching assistants enrolled on the numeracy course, with one achieving a level 2 in adult numeracy and another achieving a level 1. The remaining five are all working towards the national tests. Learning is flexible and entirely voluntary. Learners can make use of the facilities at the school during their spare time and can come in on their days off. Others choose to learn from home. National tests are taken in the school with support from learndirect. Assessment is mostly electronic, although one teaching assistant has opted for paper-based learning and assessment.
