Tips for working in school

[ShimmeryShiny]

I'm due to start as a lunchtime supervisor in a primary school. Any tips please?

What happens in school stays in school. Strict confidentiality & no gossiping to patents about what little Jemima & Tarquin get up to.

You should be given safeguarding training v early on so thst you know what Should be reported and to who.

Be friendly but firm.
If in doubt, ASK someone.

Keep hair tied back away from nits.

Make the children feel like you are listening to them rather than dismissing playground issues. You’ll get a lot more respect that way. Make sure you know the process for any safeguarding concerns and also behaviour policy and consequences.

Make sure you are aware of schools behaviour policy and how any first aid incidents should be recorded.... those are the areas MDSs slip up on most in my experience.

Gin

Make sure you know of any allergies the children might have.

Yes to confidentiality. Be firm but fair. You'll be told about safeguarding and injury forms. My last school wrote down everything, my current school (different job) writes down nothing! Use your common sense. Sometimes the head will say that every child has to clear their plate before they move. But if tiny little Susie eats like a bird then there's no point forcing her to spend all her lunchtime staring at her plate. You'd be surprised what rules the high ups make with absolutely no idea of what it's actually like on the job.

And be prepared for lots of cuddles, sometimes it's the best job in the world!

Thank you.

If you spend any time in the staff room (realise you might not if you’re just there for lunch?), be aware of teachers who are attached to particular seats/mugs, they can be weirdly territorial

Don't.

It's going quite well but I'm not naturally a person who likes drawing attention to myself which at times I have to do getting the children to listen etc. How can I show confidence in this?

Practice, honestly. I was the same, I'd go up to individual children to get them to do something and hated dealing with more than two at a time. Three months in you could hear my voice down in the town I considered a job as a town crier

Also, watch how the teachers and other MDSs deal with things. Obviously some are better than others, but you'll see what can work well and get some great tips for getting attention quickly.

As the parent of a small year 1, look out for the small ones. Amount of times DDs fallen at lunchtime and no-ones noticed because she's so little so lost in the crowd.

Confidentiality cannot be stressed enough: the gossip you hear as you go in and out of the staff room, the notices on the table, the bother children get into- it is all confidential. If a parent needs to know about bother at school, the teachers will deal with it.

When you need to gain attention, always drop to a lower voice. Children respond much better to a low tone- high voices sound like you're losing control.
Always be prepared to wait for the children to be quiet before talking to them.
When children are upset/angry, acknowledge and validate the emotion, "I can see you feel very angry. I want to help you make this better but we need to talk about it calmly. Do you need time to calm down before we speak?"
Invest time getting to know the trickiest children first. You will then genuinely like them and children deserve to feel liked and cared for. They know if an adult doesn't like them. Some children will be very endearing. Others you have to work hard to get to know and like. Everyone is happier when you do this.
Remember if a child responds in a surprising way, they may be going through a tricky time at home or have ASD or something else.

Smile! Enjoy it! Children will put a smile on your face everyday and you can make a real difference every day!

Make a real effort to learn the children's names - it makes a huge difference. Notice and praise good behaviour. It's a lovely job, I've done it for six years and there are so many things that make it worthwhile.

Thanks all. I'm going to try my hardest to do my best and hopefully be good at it. Your comments have been really helpful.