Jackie Doe - Assistant Head Teacher

'I believe every young person has a contribution to make... and we can show them how'

Why LVS Hassocks is different 

The setting of LVS Hassocks is wonderful; it has an instant calming effect. The curriculum is innovative and different, enabling children who would otherwise end up unemployed with opportunities to work and contribute to society. Most importantly the focus on 'Whole Health Learning' looks at the whole child and creates strategies to stay 'well'; for example calming strategies, healthy eating programmes and biomedical input if needs be. It is crucial for children’s learning that they understand what goes on in their body, when they are anxious/hungry, thirsty, angry etc and what to do in these situations - without these strategies children will struggle in the real world.

Why I’m working here 

I always wanted to work with children; however my background previous to working with children on the Autistic spectrum was in retail management. I began working in an Autism specific school as a teaching assistant and soon realised that this was it for me. The day to day challenges were great but it was the little bits of progression from the children that made everything worthwhile. Whilst at this school I completed my teacher training and went on to manage their 16-19 department - here is where my management skills came in handy. I knew what it was like for young people when they entered work a- the mundaneness of your first job is something you have to tackle - and this is one of the reasons that our young people sometimes do not succeed. So we spent a lot of time doing the same things and trying to get students used to the idea of 'work' by getting students to set up their own business 'Working Hands Enterprise' which serviced the local community doing odd jobs etc.  It was extremely successful and something I will be replicating at Hassocks. 

I have worked with a variety of age groups and due to my experience in the 16-19 sector I can judge what needs to be done with young people when they first start with us to enable them to transition to work. I have a variety of experience in tailoring programmes for low functioning students and high functioning students and also those young people that every one else has given up on. I believe that everyone has the ability and right to learn - and that all of our students if given the correct input will go on to sustaining employment and making a contribution no matter how small - I think this belief make me a very passionate and effective practitioner.  

My influences 

Stephanie Lord has probably had the most influence on my career; she has been the person who has created the opportunity to help me to develop to where I am today. 

Notable experiences 

I think one of the best is when my first young man transitioned to work - he was very troubled when he came to us, aggressive, angry, difficult to work with - however we worked with his special interests which was cars and helped him understand himself and he went on to work in a garage as an MOT tech.

Generally most of the magic moments come when you finally realise what a child has been trying to communicate with you for so long - either by way of challenging behaviour or anxiety and can finally tackle it and move on and see progression, or when after trying all the options you discover a way to engage a child can sometimes be as simple as closing the blind or turning off the light that flickers.