Rachel Walker

HND, BSc (Hons), PGCE

I have been a teacher in primary, middle and secondary schools since 1994, working in London, Essex, Northumberland and also here in Somerset. My personal teaching record was consistently graded as outstanding.

I have a wealth of experience in supporting adults to meet the needs of students in mainstream settings and specialist provision. For the past 11 years this has been with an explicit focus on Autism and communication needs.

I line managed a team of seven TA’s and HLTAs whilst I was working as a Learning Support Teacher in a large South London secondary school. This school at the time had 54% of its students on the SEN register. I was responsible for the day-to-day provision of students, interventions and bespoke packages in order to meet the individual needs. I was able to use assessment data to fine tune provision.

I ran an on-site autism base in Yeovil from Sept 2013 – 2018 where I had sole responsibility for the students placed there by Somerset Council. I supported my staff to build positive relationships as many of the young people had previously had negative experiences and therefore needed a considerable amount of support in order to be able to re-engage in education. During this time, I developed tried and tested strategies which saw considerable success. I was able to facilitate the transition of the young people into mainstream lessons by ensuring that the provision in those lessons was right. I also was mindful that there needed to be bespoke teaching and interventions within the base. The success of the base was due to every young person's unique profile being understood and provision personalised with individual adaptations being made.

Since September 2018 I have worked as an Advisory Teacher for Somerset Council with a specialism in Autism and communication differences using my knowledge and understanding from previous roles to help settings to achieve successful outcomes for their young people. I have worked across the county in my role. My main areas of work have been providing advice and guidance through specialist call backs to schools, attending TACs, TAFs and TASs, working with professionals as a part of solution circles, providing detailed observations to assess barriers to learning, completing reports with suggested outcomes and strategies to achieve these, running parent courses and delivering whole school training.

Testimonials

'Rachel is always thorough, diligent and supports us to develop our whole school practice'

'Rachel is amazing! Not only does she provide advice and support for pupils but she also provides support for me as a busy SENCO. Her suggestions always factor in that we are a mainstream setting and she considers the needs of the wider school as well as teacher workload when making suggestions to support the pupil'

'For a large school with a highly complex intake, advice and guidance from Rachel has always been instrumental in helping us ensure each individual child's needs are understood and effectively addressed, enabling progress at the best level the child can manage. Her advice is always rooted in what is practical and possible within a busy school setting with limited space, staff and resources, looking at how provision can be best met inclusively within the classroom as well as the more bespoke package around the child. The capacity to access additional review sessions supports us in plotting progress and mapping the impact our provision is having for our most complex children, whose progress can appear to have stalled in traditional assessments, and her expertise in applying different models of skills progression help develop our staff awareness as well as enhancing our offer for all.'

'Thank you Rachel - your support is always very much appreciated'

'Really helpful advice and good support'

'I just wanted to say thank you for your help and support not only today but since I took the job as SENDCo'