Teaching Assistant of the Month

Teaching Assistant of the Month Award

In our work supporting students with assistive technology, we meet some amazing teaching assistants and other members of school support staff who we would like to acknowledge. The extra work and the skills of these individuals have a huge impact on their students’ learning.

Make a nomination!

We celebratate the achievements of TAs across the Greater London area throughout the school year. If you would like to nominate a TA at your school who deserves special recognition for their hard work and dedication with supporting a CENMAC student with their assistive technology to support their learning and/or communication then let us know! Complete the short 5 minute form.

> Complete short form

Tony Roberts at Gaynes School “I enjoy working with technology and finding new and efficient ways to support students in their learning.”

April 2025

This month we are delighted to award our Outstanding Support Award to Tony Roberts at Gaynes School.

Tony was nominated by Advisory Teacher David Howard. David said “As advisory teachers, we visit numerous schools across London and collaborate with a wide range of professionals. In every school, we work alongside IT technicians and network teams to ensure that our assistive technology integrates seamlessly with existing school systems. Tony, the IT Technician and Network Manager at Gaynes School in Havering, has consistently demonstrated exceptional support for his students. He is always ready to adapt and resolve any issues related to device compatibility and setup, exemplifying the crucial role an outstanding network manager plays in supporting student success. Thank you so much Tony!”

Tony said “I enjoy working with technology and finding new and efficient ways to support students in their learning. Being able to adapt and configure systems to meet their needs is something I take great pride in. Seeing the positive impact that even small changes can have on a student’s experience motivates me to go the extra mile. It’s rewarding to know that my work helps create a more accessible and supportive environment for them.”

Congratulations Tony!

Miss Christine Erodokridou (Miss E) at Fielding Primary School & Nursery

March 2025

We are delighted to award our Teaching Assistant of the Month for March 2025 to Miss Christine Erodokridou or as her pupils call her Miss E. Miss E is a TA at Fielding Primary School & Nursery.

CENMAC Advisory Teacher Victoria Annan said “Since meeting Miss E she has always been enthusiastic and incredibly supportive of her pupil using their assistive technology. Miss E has been quick and keen to learn how to use and implement the software provided by CENMAC. With her creative approach, Miss E has worked hard with her pupil and integrated programs such as Clicker 8 into her learning. It’s her warm, engaging personality, combined with clever techniques, that ensures her pupil not only makes use of her technology effectively but enjoys doing so. Thank you to Miss E for all your hard work!”

Claire Chadwick, Assistant Headteacher & SENDCO, Fielding Primary School & Nursery said “It’s been truly inspiring to see how pupils develop their confidence using technology effectively, as a result of Miss E’s encouragement and support. Miss E fosters resilience, self-belief and aspirational outcomes. ”

Miss E said “It has been so rewarding to see my pupil’s approach to using her equipment improve so much since it was introduced! She now looks forward to her touch typing sessions where she competes against another child to gain the highest score for speed and accuracy – and she wants to win! Using her equipment for touch typing has benefited her in her English lessons where she has used it to ‘publish’ her final pieces of creative writing and the support function on Clicker 8 has helped her increase her speed with this. She has also enjoyed using ‘Learning Grids’ to write her own fact files using the word banks for the topic of Ancient Greece to show off to her teacher and Mum and Dad! Rather than avoiding using the equipment, she is now looking forward to making more use of First Keys 3 to practise her weekly spellings. Well done pupil M – what a long way you have come!”

Congratulations Miss E!

Jake Wyatt at Highshore School is TA of the Month for Feburary

February 2025

This month we are delighted to award our Teaching Assistant of the Month to Jake Wyatt a HLTA at Highshore School.

Advisory Speech and Language Therapist Bea Abella nominated Jake and said “Jake is a fantastic member of staff at Highshore School. He supports the pupils in Highshore in the weekly AAC chat group with Abdi Omar and Charlton Park Academy. He has a good positive attitude towards AAC that enables pupils in Highshore to become keen communicators.”

Assistant Headteacher at Highshore School Rosie Molloy said “Jake is one of our HLTAs who has taken on a specialism in SALT. He runs a weekly AAC chat group, has implemented Core Boards across all of our foundation classes, runs a weekly makaton drop-in and also has created and sent home termly vocab mats for parents to see the key vocab for their young persons learning each term. He is beginning to run SALT interventions across the school also. His hard work and dedication to SALT has had a huge impact across the school for all of our students, and we feel extremely lucky to have Jake on the Highshore Team. I couldn’t agree more that he is TA of the month!”

Congratulations Jake!

Tracey Large and Annie Hanifin are HLTAs at Marjorie McClure School

January 2025

This month we are delighted to award our Teaching Assistant of the Month to two brilliant HLTAs at Marjorie McClure School. CENMAC Advisory Teacher David Howard nominated Tracey Large and Annie Hanifin for the outstanding work they are doing with their CENMAC students.

“Both Annie and Tracy have made a significant impact on the students they support at Marjorie McClure School. By collaborating with other staff members, they have substantially improved the learning experience for many students. They are consistently positive, engaging, and hard-working, and they embrace every new initiative we implement. They know their students very well, ensuring their needs are fully supported. The whole team at Marjorie McClure engaged with the recent training we provided, and visiting a month after, we could see the tangible impact it had. Teachers were producing personalised learning resources to support the young people in the school. It’s always a pleasure to visit Marjorie McClure and witness the SEND team’s impact.” David Howard, CENMAC Advisory Teacher

“We job share our roles in the SENCo support team at Marjorie McClure Special School. No two days are ever the same which is one of the reasons we love it so much! It’s an incredibly rewarding role because it allows us to make a meaningful difference to the lives of students who need extra support. Seeing the joy and progress in students as they overcome barriers is truly fulfilling and motivates us to continue supporting their individual journeys. We have a multi-agency approach and work closely with speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and assistive communication specialists to ensure all our students can access the curriculum and thrive in their own individual way. We never fail to be inspired by the resilience and unique abilities of our amazing students and recognise and celebrate every small step.” Tracey Large and Annie Hanifin, HLTA – SENCO Team

Congratulations Tracey & Annie!

Reuben Stanley is TA of the Month for December 2024

December 2024

We are delighted to award Teaching Assistant of the Month to Reuben Stanley at Crown Lane School. Reuben was nominated by CENMAC Specialist TA Joe Herbert and CENMAC Advisory SALT Jenny Zentner.

Joe Herbert said “Reuben has been integral to AAC adoption within the ARB at Crown Lane. Rueben’s consistent modelling and holistic approach to AAC has prompted real progress with the cohort toward their use of TD motorplan. Reuben’s confidence in incorporating the device into day-to-day tasks/creating opportunity for AAC usage has been fundamental to the uptake of the devices. It is apparent that Reuben has a closeness and a familiarity to the students in his cohort that has facilitated their adoption and progress.”

Congratulations Rueben!

November 2024

We are very happy to award Teaching Assistant of the Month to Hilary Prince an HLTA at Saint Francis Xavier College.

Advisory Teacher Maureen De Longhi said “I nominated Hilary as Teaching Assistant of the Month because she goes above and beyond in her role. She arranges a room for me to work in with students when I visit, offers me tea and biscuits, and makes me feel very welcome. She also always provides invaluable support to all our CENMAC students. She takes the time to organise appointments thoughtfully, ensuring that each student knows what to expect from their visits. This preparation boosts their confidence and makes the entire experience smoother and more reassuring. She’s also diligent about making sure they have all the necessary equipment with them, which contributes to more productive, stress-free visits. Her dedication truly enhances the learning environment and makes a positive difference for everyone involved.”

Congratulations Hilary!

Claire Hennings pictured with AAC Consultant Abdi Omar doing a training session for CPA staff.

October 2024

We are very happy to award Teaching Assistant of the Month to Specialist Teaching Assistant Claire Hennings who supports the students and staff at Charlton Park Academy with communication. Claire has been instrumental in the trial of the AssistiveWare Proloquo classroom app. The Proloquo classroom app is designed to meet the communication needs of everyone in the classroom including nonspeaking people, their families, and educators.

At Charlton Park Academy, students who need a device to support their communication are now learning to use this symbols-based app through whole class implementation. It is very important that everyone has a voice, and the app supports understanding and encourages students to be more independent. Claire is an excellent role model to others with a real talent for enabling students to have a voice and feel comfortable to express themselves.

At the beginning of term, a training session was held for all Charlton Park Academy staff to teach them how to use the Proloquo classroom app so that they in turn could teach students to use it. Claire helped to run this session with AAC Consultant Abdi Omar (pictured). Claire has become a super user of the app and encourages the whole school to use it.

Claire’s enthusiasm and commitment to her students and the Proloquo classroom app trial is having a very positive impact on communication at the school and with Claire’s continued support we are expecting the communication skills of our students to flourish.