Schools as Organisations

St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School is a little different from other schools in that it is a Faith school, meaning it follows the same National Curriculum as all other schools but has the freedom to teach their own religion, and only their own. There are different types of schools within the category of Faith schools; these include academies, voluntary aided and free schools. St. Mary’s is a Faith school that is governed by our local council who helps with around 93% of our funding and distribution of supplies, unlike academy faith schools who are governed by an independent body, separate from the local council, and they have their own curriculum.
There are many roles within the school and each different role has its own responsibilities. From the bottom up you’d start with the support staff; Teaching Assistants and volunteers. It’s the responsibility of the teaching assistant to support their teachers in however they need you to. Whether it be upkeep of a display for the classroom, or helping with a group of children during each lesson to give them the extra support they need to achieve the completion of the work set them by their teacher. Teaching assistants don’t only support the teachers or the pupils, they would also support the parents. If a parent has any individual needs, maybe they would like you as a T.A. to support their child in a different approach that they have found works for them and their child, or maybe they’re having a difficult time privately and need emotional or tactical support. These would all fall under the responsibility of the T.A. As a teaching assistant you must also help with the preparation and the organisation of the learning environment as directed by the teacher.
The teachers role would be to plan the lessons, to be responsible for the children in their class and their Individual Education Plans (IEP), ensuring that each individual child receives tailor made lessons, needs ranging from any learning difficulties they may have or...