Since leaving school at 16 I worked in a variety of roles. In my first job I trained to be a butcher, I worked in telesales and by the time I was 18 I was working in the hospitality trade as a shift manager. After becoming a parent for the first time in 2002 I started to think about the career path I wanted to follow and in 2006 when my youngest child was around 18 months old I returned to studying and soon found a real satisfaction from learning again. As my son started full time school I returned to the world of work this time in a Primary school setting. I worked here for 5 years and in a variety of roles and loved every minute, I found supporting children in their learning so rewarding. I moved settings around 2 years ago to further my knowledge and skillset and to work in a field of education that had interested me for some time – SEN. I found supporting children with additional needs even more rewarding.
My love for XP started towards the end of 2013 when I went to a meeting at Cast to gain more information about XP. The enthusiasm and excitement that Mr Sprakes and Mr ap Harri shared for what they hoped to achieve at XP was contagious. I knew XP was somewhere I wanted to work but also somewhere I wanted my children to gain their Secondary education. I have been an XP parent since the school opened in 2014. I am amazed by the progress my children have made and how they thrive in the XP environment.
After discovering XP were to open a second school I decided to apply for the position of Learning Coach at XP East, I was excited and proud to be offered a position in the new school. In June 2017 I took up my role as a member of Crew and we set off on our outdoor expedition. Spending four nights camping with a group of strangers was a strange way to start a new job but it gave me the skills and knowledge to be able to guide our new students through their Outward Bound experience. Since returning from our four nights in Derbyshire the journey has been amazing, building relationships as Crew, learning how the students will learn by participating in a ‘Slice’ expedition, delivering a presentation of learning to our new students and their parents. During this process my passion for learning has been re-ignited and I am hoping to return to studying my degree towards the end of the year.
I am excited about my role as a Learning Coach. I’m looking forward to getting to know our students, watching them grow into confident learners and supporting them through their journey at XP East.
The culminating event to our staff induction is an Educator-Led Conference, where staff prepare speeches, critiqued by their peers, which answer the guiding questions:
“How have my ideas about teaching and learning changed during this induction process and have I changed as a person during this induction process?”
Below is Mrs Duffield’s speech: