September 2022
Georgina works at Elm Green School in Tulse Hill as an HLTA. Amongst her other roles, she has responsibility for facilitating the work CENMAC does in her school. She leads her team superbly so that they all know how to support the students using their equipment and software, and this has a discernible impact on her students and our ability to help them. One of the other TA’s said: “She is like everyone’s mum!” whilst describing how supportive she is.
Another role that she has developed in the school is the responsibility for making CENMAC referrals. She has been incredibly successful at getting her students accepted (16 so far and counting …) enabling our support to be made available for even more students.
Georgina at Elm Green School is TA of the Month
October 2022
Our Teaching Assistant of the Month is awarded to Vana Avgerinou in recognition of her support for a student with a vision impairment. Vana has supported her student with her use of technology. Vana has the right balance of knowing when her support is needed and when her student can access her learning independently.
“As a Learning Specialist and LSA for Visual Impairment in Putney High School, I integrated tools from Microsoft suite in the classroom, particularly TEAMS and OneNote, to enable a visually impaired student to access resources independently of and simultaneously with her peers. It has been incredibly rewarding to see the student’s confidence and self-advocacy skills grow as a result. Technology has removed barriers to her learning and enabled her to thrive in and out of school. It would be wonderful if more pupils with special needs were enabled in a similar way. I am grateful to the QTVI service in Wandsworth and the CENMAC team for supporting me in this journey.” Vana Avgerinou
From the student “Dr Avgerinou has changed my life at Putney High so much, that when I imagine school without her, I simply can’t. Coming into secondary school I was scared to be disabled and timid in asking what I now know to be my right, but Dr Avgerinou encouraged me to embrace it in a way that has helped me stand up for myself, become confident in my disability and helped me pursue ambitions of mine. I doubt I would have achieved much of my academic success if I didn’t have the level of normalcy she provided to my life; that I could be a normal child in school, not labelled by a disability, is something every disabled child deserves and I am forever grateful to have received it.”
Vana Avgerinou at Putney High School is TA of the Month
November 2022
This month we are very happy to award our Teaching Assistant of the Month to the entire support staff team, Isabel, Mohamed, Rani and Kelly, in Marble Arch classroom at Charlton Park Academy. Their great team work and enthusiasm for supporting our augementative and alternative communication (AAC) students, not only during Abdi Omar’s AAC weekly chat group, but throughout the week is having a really positive impact on their communication.
Our wonderful consultant Abdi Omar has Cerebral Palsy and uses AAC to communicate. Abdi uses his own experience to encourage students to use their devices by giving them a series of fun activities during the session. We notice the more students have role models of those using devices the greater the impact on their own abilities.
Abdi will be running a session as part of CENMAC’s Thursday Thirty free training sessions on Thursday 1 December, 15.30 to 16.00 GMT (30 mins) – Strategies to help motivate students using AT & AAC. This session is suitable for TAs, teachers, the school SEND team, parents and carers and AT and AAC users. Sign-up.
Isabel, Mohamed, Rani and Kelly at Charlton Park Academy are all TAs of the Month
December 2022
This month we are delighted to award our Teaching Assistant of the Month to Sandra Vanderslaghmolen. She has been working really hard supporting a student at St Joseph’s.
Advisory Teacher Vicky Annan said “Sandra attended our Clicker 8 training at Friar’s Primary and has been putting her training into practice ever since. Sandra is really passionate about providing the best support for her student and is using lots of her own time to plan and prepare resources. Sandra has created some fabulous examples of this by using Clicker linked to her students reading and writing targets. The assistive technology has been a great way for her students to access learning.”
Sandra said “CENMAC has been a tremendous help day-to-day here at Camberwell St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School. As a Teaching Assistant working 1-to-1 with a SEND pupil, I rely heavily upon Education City and Clicker 8. Both resources are fantastic tools for visual learners and offer pragmatic and differentiated solutions in a very accessible format (like worksheets, matching activities and learning videos). Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoyed CENMAC’s Clicker 8 workshop, which taught me a great deal about its versatility and range. I particularly appreciate the fact that I can now produce and fine tune my own resources so they are completely tailored to the needs of my pupils.”
Congratulations Sandra!
Sandra at St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School is TA of the Month
January 2023
Happy New Year! This month we are celebrating all the TAs who were nominated for Teaching Assistant of the Month in 2022. We want to thank them for all their hard work and commitment to supporting their students.
They were:
December 2022 – Sandra Vanderslaghmolen at St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School
November 2022 – Isabel, Mohamed, Rani and Kelly at Charlton Park Academy
October 2022 – Vana Avgerinou at Putney High School
September 2022 – Georgina Wisson at Elm Green School
June 2022 – Brenda Swann at Lambeth College
January 2022 – Edward from Lambeth Academy
February 2023
We are delighted to award the February 2023 Teaching Assistant of the Month to Mrs Eleanor Codd at Gordon Primary School.
“Mrs Codd has been working 1:1 with Charlie for well over a year. Their relationship has meant that Charlie has gained confidence to take on new challenges. Mrs Codd worked carefully and thoughtfully to introduce Charlie to the laptop, pencil and to Clicker. She has shown that she has understood the value of the technology in enabling him to work more independently. It has supported her to reinforce previous learning to strengthen his knowledge and skills. As a result of her teaching, he is accessing whole classwork and is flying!”
Hannah Cuesta, SENCO, Inclusion Manager and Assistant Headteacher, Gordon Primary School
Mrs Codd said “It’s been great to see Charlie’s progress. He really enjoys using the technology provided by CENMAC which is supporting him to access more of the curriculum.”
Thank you for your hardwork and dedication Mrs Codd!
Eleanor Codd at Gordon Primary School is TA of the Month
March 2023
We are delighted to award the March 2023 Teaching Assistant of the Month to Julia Konieczna at St John’s Catholic Primary School. It is clear Julia is enthusiastic and hardworking when it comes to working with the pupils at St John’s. She has been quick to learn how to use and implement the software and technology provided by CENMAC to support a range of pupils. She has demonstrated this by using Pictello to support a pupil with creating their own stories and Clicker 8 to help a pupil learn to read key words.
Julia has also supported the teaching of phonics through the use of iPads. Julia really understands the importance of the assistive technology provided and finds creative ways to ensure the use is maximised. Thank you to Julia for all her hard work and support!
Clare Barclay, SENCO at St John’s Catholic Primary School said “Julia Konieczna has been working as a Classroom Support Assistant at St John’s Primary School, Rotherhithe for the past three years alongside completing a part-time degree in Psychology with Birkbeck, University of London. Julia has been using CENMAC equipment with two of our Year 3 pupils, having started 1:1 sessions initially with one pupil just over a year ago.
Julia mainly uses Clicker 8 during the individual sessions but loves how CENMAC tailors the equipment and software to meet the specific needs of the individual child to support them in developing independence in their learning. She notes, “The benefits of using the equipment on a daily basis can be seen in the wider learning of both the boys and it is great to see the progress that they are making as a result of having access to both the iPad and the Surface Pro laptop, they look forward to the sessions and approach them with great enthusiasm.”
Julia is our CENMAC Champion! She has dedicated time to learning how all the different apps work and having a comprehensive understanding of their capability has had a noticeable impact on the level of engagement that both boys have during their sessions and, in turn, on their progression. The boys love using the technology and their eyes light up every time.
They talk eagerly to other pupils about their equipment and are working towards using the wider range of apps such as Hairy Phonics, Help Kidz Learn, Education City and Touch Typing independently within the classroom to supplement their daily intervention sessions.
Julia has a positive approach to any undertaking and has developed a great rapport with the pupils. Her calm demeanour helps the pupils who have complex learning needs to feel at ease when facing any challenge. She has truly gone above and beyond and we would like to thank Julia very much for her fantastic level of commitment.
Julia Konieczna at St John’s Catholic Primary School is TA of the Month
April 2023
We are delighted to award the April 2023 Teaching Assistant of the Month to Ms Jamila Douglas at Galleywall Primary City of London Academy.
Lucy Fyffe, SENCO at Galleywall said “Ms Douglas works as a 1:1 TA with a pupil at Galleywall who has recently started using a Talker provided by CENMAC. Since beginning to use the Talker, the pupil’s language skills have exponentially grown, as well as his literacy skills and social skills. It has been life changing for him. Ms Douglas has been incredibly enthusiastic and supportive with helping this pupil to get the most out of his Talker. She constantly interacts with him through the Talker and gives him opportunities to progress his skills. Ms Douglas has a wonderful relationship with the pupil and is always beaming with pride when he talks or interacts using his Talker. She has gone above and beyond what we would expect of a 1:1 TA. She is having such an incredible impact on this pupil and we would like to thank Ms Douglas for her continued dedication and commitment to all the pupils at Galleywall.”
Ms Douglas said “It has been a pleasure for CENMAC to have extended their services to what is now a life changing form of technology for my 1:1. In addition it has been my honour to use it with my 1:1 and witness first hand CENMAC providing a talker which is his voice and him also discovering the power of his own voice.”
Congratulations Ms Douglas!
Jamila Douglas at Galleywall Primary City of London Academy is TA of the Month
May 2023
We are delighted to award the May 2023 Teaching Assistant of the Month to Katie Robertson at Pimlico Academy.
Katie Robertson really is a TA in a million! She works at Pimlico Academy and is a one-to-one support for one of our CENMAC students.
Katie supports Ruth in all her lessons and as she is a wheel-chair user, this can sometimes involve helping her to get to her lessons, or accompanying her to after-school club and her extra-curricular activities. She has made sure that she has an excellent knowledge of the equipment and is able to ensure that Ruth is using her laptop in most lessons and that she is typing much more for herself she makes effective use of it and all the support offered to her. Sometimes, when Ruth is getting tired, Katie will step in and type for her. It’s really impressive that she has ‘invented’ a system of colour coding the work with Ruth typing in black and her TA typing in blue to differentiate between the two, which is so useful for teachers to be able to see how Ruth is doing. She also gives up her time to attend concerts and camping weekends.
All of these things really help to make Ruth feel secure and to make fantastic progress. Thank you Katie for all your support! Congratulations Katie!
Katie Robertson at Pimlico Academy is TA of the Month
June 2023
We are delighted to award the June 2023 Teaching Assistant of the Month to Ms Angela McKenna at Lyndhurst Primary School.
“Ange is a great TA in so many ways. She’s organised, she’s practical and reliable. She’s experienced and her observations are amazing – I always know I’ll get honest, high-quality feedback from Ange.
TAs can be nervous when an AAC device is introduced to a student, and Ange was no exception. However, she was able to overcome this, using the device as much as possible, letting me know in sessions if she hadn’t been able to find something during the week, and persisting when she felt unsure if her student Perez would get the hang of it.
Not only has Ange learned to navigate the system and model consistently, she is also great at finding opportunities to for Perez to develop skills and competence in different areas of device use, like greeting others and asking for help.” Olivia Walker, Speech and Language Therapist, Therapy Links UK
“Ange has approached the challenge of supporting Perez to develop his communication with positivity and dedication since his initial CENMAC assessment in November 2022. Under the skillful guidance of Olivia Walker (Advanced Specialist Speech and Language Therapist for Therapy Links UK), Ange actively supports Perez to develop his literacy skills and enables him to realise his communicative potential which is an absolute delight to witness.” Sarah McPoland, CENMAC Advisory Speech and Language Therapist
Angela McKenna at Lyndhurst Primary School is TA of the Month
