Tudor Gap Scholarship

Boys enjoying the outdoor

SCHOLARSHIP TUDOR GAP

aparatus.

Lottie Giles (2019) (left) and Charlotte English (2019) were the trailblazers for an exciting new programme that will now be open to Tudor’s UVI leavers each year.

Girls who plan to take a gap year after their A Levels will be able to apply to work as a Teaching Assistant at Carrdus for one term. The Gap Scholarship is funded by Tudor Hall and offers a great opportunity for new OTs to learn valuable skills, enhance their CV and earn some money during their gap year.

Lottie Giles worked as the Year 4 Classroom Assistant at Carrdus during the 2019 autumn term before leaving to continue her gap year adventures. Alice (left), a Year 4 pupil at Carrdus, talks to Lottie about her time at the School.

Why did you choose to spend some of your gap year working at Carrdus? Everybody was starting to think about applying for jobs to earn money to fund their gap year and one of my friends was applying for a job as a Teaching Assistant at her old school in London. I thought this was such a nice thing to do, and after having such amazingly happy memories of my own primary school days at Carrdus, the idea of going back and working there was a dream. I was so grateful for my years there and felt that I wanted to give something back, so I took a complete shot in the dark and sent an email to enquire. Much to my surprise they took the idea

Lottie in a school play at Carrdus.

on board! Tudor had been such a huge chapter in my life, so it was wonderful to know I was going on to Carrdus and definitely made the transition from school easier.

What was your favourite thing about being our Teaching Assistant? I loved being the Year 4 Teaching Assistant – the children had such a great energy and were amazing fun to be around. I think one of my favourite memories was when I had to look after the class for the day on my own; I think they all knew I found it a bit scary. At the end of the day all the girls clapped for me saying “you did so well”, which I thought was adorable. I loved getting to know each girl better on an individual basis as the term progressed and felt we became a great team.

Supervising outdoor learning with Ms Price and Ms Tate-Davies.

Was it easier or harder than you thought it would be? I loved it a lot more than I initially thought I would. I made stronger bonds and became invested in the children so much more than I had expected. I found the transition from student to teacher harder than I had anticipated – it felt weird to suddenly be allowed in the staffroom and to have children calling me ‘Miss Giles’. I sometimes found it hard not to laugh at things children said, which for me were just so hilarious, or felt like a bit of a hypocrite being the one to tell other people not to shout out or chat! I couldn’t bring myself to call teachers who had previously taught me by their first name, it even felt wrong calling teachers who had never taught me before by their first name! In the classroom itself, standing up in front of the class and being in charge was a bit daunting at first, but I soon got used to it - and enjoyed it so much. There was such great support from other teachers which really helped. The Year 4 maths was also VERY hard...

Year 4 girls enjoying autumn sun at Carrdus.

What did you learn from the experience? To be honest there are countless things I have learnt from working at Carrdus. It has helped me significantly to grow up since leaving Sixth Form (I wasn’t always the best behaved student at Tudor, so I think a few of my friends and teachers were slightly surprised that I was going to be a Teaching Assistant). Not only did I have my first experience of having to get to work on time, but I also had responsibility. Responsibility that went from marking homework, to going through maths with someone

Charlotte English working with a pupil during her Gap Scholarship at Carrdus.

and making sure they understood it, to helping resolve an argument over dens at break time. For the first time ever in my life, I would have groups of children coming up to me and expecting me to have all the answers. And I had to somehow make sure that I did have all the answers! For this reason it gave me a lot more self-confidence and helped me to believe in myself. My term at Carrdus has given me so much, I will never forget it and will be forever grateful for the experience.

Would you recommend it to other people? I genuinely couldn’t recommend it enough. You feel part of such a special, close-knit community and it was a perfect way to finish my school chapter. It will always have such a special place in my heart and I hope to come back to see everyone very soon.

When are you coming back to visit us? Missing you all so much! I promise I will come and visit as soon as I can – can’t wait!! R