LSA/ MDA interview primary school can anyone advise ?

[mumof3boys610]

Hi there,
I have always worked in the care sector… maternity and sexual health for young people and now i am wanting to work with school aged children for a new challenge and career path. so Inhave never worked in a school before and have interviews coming up for LSA and a midday assistants ( joint) i have a small task to do before my interview which will be with a small group of children can anyone give me advise and what task could be set for me please ?

Thank you inadvance !

I would expect quite different tasks for each role.

You may be asked to lead a game with a group of children for the midday supervisor role. For the LSA role, they’d probably want you to lead a small group activity/intervention.

Have you got to plan them yourself beforehand or will they give you a task on the day?

For my mds role; I didn't have a task to do but there was a question about including those kids who may be on the sidelines & I talked about the games I remembered playing when I was at school, with our dinner ladies then. We have sports equipment on our yard at the moment so maybe something like badminton, or we just bat balls back and forth & eventually pass our bat along & someone else will take our place.

For my LSA position; the role was for EYFS so I read We're Going on a Bear Hunt with a little group and their TA. Do you know what year it'll be for? Try and find out about any techniques they use maybe (I knew them because I work in the school anyway but everyone drilled it into me the week before to make sure I followed them to the letter on the day!).

Definitely know who the Designated Safeguarding Lead is, and their Deputy. I had a question about what I'd do if a situation was getting to a point where I wasn't confident to deal with it alone.

Someone will be along with much better help than mine though, which probably isn't helpful!! @mumof3boys610 very best of luck to you 🤞

thanks so much for the reply’s !!

nope says no preparation needed beforehand so i’m panicking ! haha !

the job description says key stage 2.

this is all so new to me ! but i do have 3 boys 1 year 6 going to 7 and one in hear 2 going to year 3! so have a rough sort of idea if that make sense !! i’m so nervous !! x

Meal supervisor I had to invent a game for a group of very disinterested 6 year olds. I had bean bags and 5 lines on the playground. I got them to throw bag in air and count when they caught it and move to next mine and repeat.

got the job and spent 6 months every day being told engage them in duck duck fucking goose - they hated it. Told my manager who said let me try and he failed too - hate duck fuck of goose

Thinking of questions I was asked for TA role;

You'll definitely have questions regarding safeguarding; what would you do if you had a concern about a child/how do you keep children safe/what would you do if a child asked to tell you a secret, that sort of thing.

An example of a time you've had to or helped someone else overcome a barrier to learning.

Why do you want this role? Specifically a TA role and also good if you can talk about what's drawn you to the school. Look at the website; it will have loads of info.

What would you do if a pupil refused to do their work?

I was told to prepare a story session with a group of year 1 children, but I had a week to plan that so could choose the book, identify any key words that could need unpicking and prepare a short activity to do based on a Ks1 objective (I have been a TA for 12 years). I honestly don't know what sort of task you could be given on the day. Is it a TA1 or TA2 role?

yes i’ve recently bene to my children schooo for an interview was a close call and unfortunately didn’t get it but they asked a couple of those questions …

the secret one isn’t it that we say we shouldn’t share secrets but if you ever have anything on mind or need to speak to someone that’s ok ? not sure if i’ve evenworded it right?

thing is i never know what to say about what’s drawn me to the school, it’s the same academy trust as my children a school so coukd say soemthing along those lines,

its KS2 i believe, it’s hard because like i say i’ve never worked in a school before but we have to start somewhere don’t we ! x i’m willing to learn and compete all levels of childcare etc x

sorry about the typing im so tired and typing fast my phone randomly spells things different hahahaha x

You will probably be asked what you think the role of TA is?

Questions about how you deal with behaviour issues in the playground

Be prepared for a panel interview, usually about 3 people

Might have a written task to check your spelling and handwriting

You would tell a child that you can't keep a secret as you may need to tell someone who is better able to help or who needs to know. You can't promise a child any kind of confidentiality in case it's something you need to take further.

Think about WHY you want to be a TA and what you think the job entails. Maybe find something about the school that you like the sound of: do they have a play based approach; reading focus; forest school...

They will have seen from your application that you haven't worked in a school before so they will tailor the questions I'm sure. They'll probably ask what you think you'll bring to the role of a TA.

A friend of mine recently had to do a maths test on a recent LSA interview.

Safeguarding - always say if you have any concerns you'd tell the safeguarding lead or deputy lead if lead isn't there. State you understand it's always better to report than keep silent.

Activity is likely to be reading or something. Be vigilant about including quieter children but not individually making them feel self conscious.
So if you have a child who hasn't spoken you can ask "would you like to add anything" this gives them them the chance to say no. If a child hasn't contributed they may not have any ideas or understand the question and asking them something they have to answer when they don't know it can be embarrassing. So avoid things such as "what do you think X was thinking at Y time". You could ask "did you have a favourite character?" (Avoid what was your favourite character because again if they can't remember their names it puts them in a difficult position)

What they want to know for LSAs is that you're willing to get to know children, get to know what they need and support under the guidance of a teacher but you can take initiative. The LSAs who don't get jobs when we interview are the ones who think they know it all and have all the answers because it shows they won't engage with what the children actually need through listening, observing and learning.

I started as a LSA when my ds was a toddler and have worked my way up over the years and now a behavioural lead in a federation. I've learnt most of what I know from all the wonderful pupils I've had the pleasure of supporting over 15 years.