A view from The Pod …

Meet Amy, our Executive Assistant to CEO

Similar to Sophie’s ‘A view from the Pod’ last month, I also began my career in Education back in 2014 through an Apprenticeship route. I worked on reception at a Primary School in good old Barnsley. Believe it or not, one of the first things I learnt here was how to make a cup of tea (shocking I know at 19 years old!). But something I realised quite quickly was that I just loved working in a school. It was a special place – the children, the staff, some of whom I’m still in touch with now.

After a few years learning on the job and gaining my Level 2 and 3 Business Admin qualifications, my role developed and I worked for a Teaching School Alliance. In this role I supported the co-ordination of teacher training programmes, managed the induction process for Newly Qualified Teachers and organised courses/ events for colleagues across the borough. I loved my teaching school days too, although I did miss the feel of walking into a school everyday. I also gained a work mum too, the legendary Julie Tallant!

I then joined a large Multi Academy Trust Central Team based in Barnsley. I was lucky enough to be immersed in another relational organisation, working alongside great people and it was here I had the opportunity to support some of the Executive Leadership team. 

In April 2021 I joined White Woods PAT as the CEOs Executive Assistant – a little daunting for me at first having to drive more than 10 minutes to work! (I am a bit of a home bird after all) but I knew I was ready for another challenge. I remember my first couple of days being the new girl; it was my birthday and everyone had gone to the effort of buying me flowers, gin and a card, even though they didn’t know me. I followed Kate around Rotherham and had lots of visits to the Trust schools and was made to feel so welcome. The Central Team was just full of good people and I was back with my first ever boss, 9 years on!

Being a CEOs Executive Assistant can be both challenging and rewarding in equal measure – no two days are the same and I reckon it would be pretty boring if they were! Kate often likes to tell people that I ‘organise her life’. It’s like a huge jigsaw organising meetings & events and I get ‘proper’ job satisfaction when it all comes together.

My role has evolved since joining WWPAT. I oversee our communication plan (internally & externally), always keeping in mind, ‘is it clear, is it timely, is it helpful?’. I manage our Social Media accounts to try and inspire and share all of the great things happening across our Trust. I love that I am able to use my creative side to design artwork and graphics for different projects – Canva is my new best friend. I also help the coordination and running of our Trust-wide annual calendar of events. I love seeing people come together from across our schools. One highlight in particular for me was the WWPAT Games Expo last year – it was the first time children across the Trust had come together at scale. They had been working on their games for around 4 months and there was a real buzz in the room on the day. We were SO impressed with what they had created. It reminded me why we do what we do and that we need to do more of it!

I haven’t sat and reflected on my journey for quite a while, it’s probably something none of us do enough of because working in education is so fast paced and it’s always onto the next thing. So to end my first ever blog, I’m pleased to say that 10 years on, I can now make a REYT good cuppa tea 🙂