Recent Graduate - Primary teacher in training - Maths tutor with Timothy

Timothy Blume was employed by HealthWorks in London as a paid environmental health student to assist with development and delivery of a health project. The aim was to raise awareness with school students (aged 11- 16 years) of the link of poor housing with communicable diseases, in this case Tuberculosis, TB. The expectation that students would act as change agents to share learning with friends and family.

Timothy was aware that he would be expected to work with school students to develop scripts and to encourage them to go on camera and share what they had learnt during the sessions but he was not aware that he (along with another student) would end up being one of two main actors in what was our introduction film to school TB sessions.

The following are areas that Timothy excelled in working with our organisation;

Ability to work as a team, develop new skills and follow instructions: Timothy is a true team member, this shone through when he provided feedback verbally and written on a draft script for him and his colleague to deliver in making a short film, developing a TB quiz and lesson plan for delivery in schools. In the film, Timothy played the role of a resident living in a make shift home, a garage. His role was to respond to questions from a student playing the role of a housing officer inspecting his ‘home’ and simultaneously remember to act as though he was developing the early signs of Tuberculosis, (constantly coughing and visually sweating). This involved Timothy needing to respond to questions, follow instructions from both me as the manager and the two film crew makers. The film crew would request the same scene to be shot on three or four occasions each time he obliged with enthusiasm and patience, a virtue I feel you would need to teach young school students. To my knowledge Timothy had not acted before and yet his commitment for the project subject matter and the importance of getting the message across to children in a fun and interactive manner appealed to him and as such he was more than able and willing to learn new skills and actively take part. In the lesson the two students stayed in character to deliver the lesson this needed to be semi scripted to ensure we covered all points, Timothy assisted with running through rehearsals of the script with the other student and the team to finalise the lesson and inputting changes to the TB quiz.

Ability to communicate: TImothy is more than willing and able to communicate his ideas and ensure that these are well thought out and justified to others in a work team environment. However, it was also his role along with a fellow student to deliver the TB Sessions to secondary school students in inner city borough, Newham. The London Borough of Newham has a rich and diverse community with approximately 70 % of the population made up of other ethnic groups. In the classroom Timothy answered questions from students ‘in character’ and was positive and enthusiastic regardless of the question put and at times the relevance. He also demonstrated clear commitment to equal opportunities and treated all students with the same and equal importance. It was also his role to lead on the final activity in the class. I witnessed students throwing up their hands to answer questions and to please. Their participation was richly rewarded by clear responses from Timothy of, well done, fantastic, great etc. He was also instrumental in encouraging children to stay after the lesson to be interviewed on camera for a short educational video demonstrating what they had learnt, hence we had no problems in finding enough students to participate.

Tim joined Springmead Primary Support Base as a Primary Support Base Teaching Assistant offering outreach support to pupils with challenging behaviour in October 2014. He has supported children in Year 2 and above.
Tim has demonstrated a clear understanding of the need to motivate and engage learners in order to secure the best outcomes for the pupils he is supporting. Tim has good knowledge and understanding of the primary core and foundation subjects. He is particularly strong in mathematics, a subject which he is clearly confident in.

Tim has been able to identify the barriers to learning for a child in Year 2 and, in discussion, has demonstrated a clear understanding of how key concepts are taught in an explicit manner. Tim is highly resilient and demonstrates a high level of patience in dealing with challenging learners. He is able to ensure the pupils he supports remain on task and complete learning activities in a timely manner independently.

Tim is well organised and can be relied upon to arrive in plenty of time for appointments when completing extended roll visits to schools in our locality.

During his time at Springmead Tim has demonstrated that he is able to form mutually respectful relationships with pupils for whom he is responsible. This has enabled him to offer effective support and where necessary challenge in order to support pupils in meeting their full potential.

I have every confidence that Tim is highly capable of supporting individuals in their learning and will prove to be a skilled tutor.