Amber is a Teaching Assistant (TA) at Thomas Bewick School, a specialist provision for autistic children and young people based in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Her apprenticeship is delivered by Inspire ATA, a flexi-job apprenticeship agency that employs and supports apprentices across the UK.
She is 18 years old and has always wanted to work with children. In her role as a Special Educational Needs (SEN) Teaching Assistant she enjoys being able to support children and young people on their journey. Amber finds this really fulfilling and she thoroughly enjoys her role and working at Thomas Bewick School.
In a recent meeting with her LMP tutor, Amber shared her story.
“While studying art at university in 2021, teaching was always on my mind so I decided to change direction with my career. I continue with art as a hobby but decided that an apprenticeship in teaching would be better for me as both my parents are teachers and it was what I wanted to do.”
I did plenty of research about becoming a Teaching Assistant and decided to take this role as an apprentice as it better suited me. Although I had little idea about autism before starting here I have now learnt so much.
The best part about my apprenticeship is that I enjoy getting to know the children and learning about their communication styles. I felt nervous when I initially started but working within a SEN environment requires you to overcome this rapidly in order to best support the children. I am really enjoying my role and have also been able to improve my communication skills.”
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