For the past 3.5 years, I have volunteered to support young learners between ages 5-11 with basic literacy skills, specifically reading. This has included children who are both native and non-native speakers with a focus to build confidence, vocabulary, comprehension and motivation levels to improve reading skills. I have worked with a number of schools across England and delivered 130 online reading sessions in 2024, some of these, whilst working full-time as a Senior Business Management Lead for a leading retail bank in the UK.
The results and my enthusiasm for developing reading skills has been proven. In 2024 alone, I was asked by 6 schools to extend my support given the impact this had in the pupil’s development. This included a SEN (Special Educational Needs) pupil for whom I had to think creatively to engage the pupil adequately with different materials and games to their ability. In addition, I have dealt with behavioral issues and received feedback from the school that my approach and teaching techniques were working well. The teacher spoke to me directly and said, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing with him but he really enjoyed the session, please continue’ and this was following what I thought was a rocky start. This proved to me that I can be patient, dynamic, responsible and cheerful when needed.
I build relationships and engage very well with people from all age groups. By using my intuition and emotional intelligence I am able to offer guidance, empathise and offer support in many different areas. I have done this in the workplace equally, if members of my own team have needed clarity or additional support I have provided this in a professional manner and with due care. I am also very intuitive as to when someone needs help but is too shy to ask and offer support on a 121 basis.
In the initial stages with a new pupil, the role I play often starts with a firm but friendly tone to instil discipline towards reading though this is very much balanced with a collaborative approach in terms of materials that will be used where the pupil will have an active part to decide this. Throughout the reading programmes, I will play different roles from participant to teacher or even listener.
I am often described by my own younger members of the family as a fun and caring person. However, I am able to balance my assertiveness skills with setting clear boundaries.
My previous line manager has described me as reliable, trustworthy and a self-starter. I can be given briefs which are unclear and ambiguous but I will always find ways to deliver results. This will mean I engage many different people to either work out what I need to deliver or seek support to deliver the results.
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