What to expect on your first day of supply teaching
Once a teacher has completed their registration with Yorkshire Education, they can go into schools and work. For people who are completely new to supply teaching, working for new school may seem a bit daunting.
To help put you at ease for your first day, we have created the following guide so you know what you can expect and how to prepare.
Once you have spoken to the consultant about the booking and accepted it from the phone call, you will receive a booking confirmation which is a short A4 document that has all the information you need about the school. For example:
Start and finish times
Address
Main contact you will work with for the day-to-day activities
Rate of pay
Specific requirements for that school. It maybe you cannot bring a memory stick from home, or there is an obligation to wear a smart jacket.
Arriving at the school
On arrival you will go to reception and ask for the Cover Manager who will provide you with the details you need during the day. This includes the lessons you cover, how the work is set and general information about the school day.
With secondary work, there will be a timetable of the lessons that you will have during the day. For primary, work is usually set for the day but on occasions it is not always possible, so it is good to have work with you if you need something last minute.
For each secondary lesson, you need to make sure the pupils complete the tasks set by the regular teacher and manage the classroom behaviour. Each lesson will have work set differently. For example, with science, they may leave a textbook of information to read and questions to answer. Other subjects may leave a PowerPoint of work where you deliver and explain topics with questions and tasks to complete relating to it. Whichever way the work is left for you, it should be clear and easy for you to understand what is needed.
Tips to have a successful day
Ask the school what their reward and sanction policy is and follow the procedure they have in place. Students respond to the culture they are familiar with and unlikely to react positively if you try and implement something which is different, even if it has been successful elsewhere.
Have a generic starter activity to give yourself time for the register, look through the work that has been provided and settle the class. For example, put a riddle on the board and reward the students that get it correct. This is a good approach to start the lesson in a positive way and shows you want to reward positive behaviour.
Here at Yorkshire Education, we work for you to help find the perfect job.
Contact us today to arrange a registration.
