Support Staff Journeys - Alice Langton
Alice has been SEND Administrator and Receptionist at Haberdashers' Knights Primary since 2020, joining just after the first covid lockdown.
Alice shares how she felt about a shift in career direction.
How did you come to join the Trust?
Before working at Haberdashers, I worked for 10 years in private day nurseries with under 2 year olds and as a SENCO. I had done this since leaving college in 2010 and had felt like it had run its course with me. I wanted to find something new and exciting to and I also didn’t want to be covered in sand and food anymore!
After the first covid lockdown in 2020, I returned to the nursery with a desire to find something new and began looking for a new job. But my issue was that I didn’t know what that was. I was looking around on Indeed.com and found a SEN administrator and receptionist role and thought that sounded like something I would be interested in doing. I ummed and ahhed for weeks before applying and was glad that I did.
Before I applied I randomly spoke about the job with a lady I worked with at the Nursery, and found out that she had a son who went to a Haberdashers' school, and she gave excellent reviews and urged me to give it a go!
What does your role involve?
No day is the same and I get given a range of tasks to do from, taking care of the school tortoise to organising our deputation day!
My main day to day jobs are admin based. I am front of house at Knights Primary and carry out all the receptionist style jobs. I also do the admin for our attendance officer, as well as ordering, and generally most admin work!
No day is the same and I get given a range of tasks to do from, taking care of the school tortoise to organising our deputation day!
One of my favourite things I have done recently is to redesign the schools Weekly Communication Newsletter! I also post on the school's social media pages and work on the website too.
What advice would you give someone considering a support role at the Trust?
My advice to anyone wanting to completely change their job and do something different is to just go for it and have faith in yourself. You’ll be surprised by how many skills you have for a different job that you didn’t know you already had.
And also that change can be scary but in most cases, its a really good thing!
How do you maintain a good work-life balance?
I am lucky in my role as it does not require me to take work home with me so as a result as soon as I leave the school, I leave work there. I think that’s very important and have done that all my life in every job I have had.
