Meet Ayesha.

Ayesha believes every child has potential, and her role is to help them discover it. She makes learning meaningful by connecting it to real life, so children stay curious and motivated.

Children learn best when they feel safe, valued and capable. For Ayesha, relationships come first: when a child feels understood, they take the risks that learning asks of them.

A safe, inclusive and language-rich space where every child is valued and feels confident to take part. She builds rapport from day one, sets clear routines and celebrates effort as much as achievement.

She approaches every conversation with empathy, active listening and professionalism: understanding concerns, sharing evidence and working together in the best interest of the child.

Ayesha enjoys mentoring and learning alongside colleagues, sharing resources and practical routines a teacher can use the next morning rather than theory they forget by lunch.

She stays curious. She reflects. She keeps improving through ongoing training and everyday classroom experience, and is not afraid to try an approach she once thought was beyond her.

I teach reading as something you can see, not something you assume. In Year 1 I run weekly systematic phonics (mainly Jolly Phonics, with some Read Write Inc.) alongside guided and shared reading, and I track every child through phonics screening and our Level Up reading data.

• Small-group interventions for the children who need decoding practice most
• Guided reading that builds decoding, fluency and comprehension together
• Reading levels and quiz accuracy read side by side, so engagement is never mistaken for understanding

When a reader dips, I treat it as an early signal and step in before they disengage.

I start with talk. Many children who freeze on the page can say far more than they think they can write, so I grow a plain sentence one step at a time and have children rehearse it aloud before they write.

• Sentence stretching with who, what, where, when, why and how prompts
• Modelled writing every lesson, plus word banks and sentence stems
• Immediate verbal feedback and the chance to edit straight away

With one Year 1 class, 9 of 27 pupils were writing below expectations. After about ten weeks, 5 of those 9 were writing expanded, independent sentences. The confidence usually arrives before the skill does.

I use data to ask better questions, not to label children. For Year 1 that means diagnostic assessment, phonics screening, Level Up reading data and book scrutiny, read together rather than in isolation.

On their own each measure can flatter or mislead. Read together they tell the truth, and they let me reach a child early rather than at the point of failure. I plan the next week around what they actually show.

I plan from where each child actually is, and I work closely with the inclusion team and learning support assistants so no child is left on the edge of the lesson.

• SEND: a pupil on a modified Foundation Stage curriculum, supported with concrete resources and personalised targets; for a pupil with autism, a bespoke story booklet that revisited nouns, verbs and adjectives in a familiar format
• EAL: pre-taught vocabulary, visual word banks, picture prompts and sentence starters, using a child’s home language strategically to unlock a concept
• Visual impairment: enlarged, bold materials, close positioning and an accessible layout
• High-attaining pupils: higher-order questioning and open-ended tasks that ask them to explain and justify

The aim is simple: every child is stretched, and every child can access the lesson.

Technology earns its place only when it does something a worksheet cannot. The test is always the same: does it deepen the learning or just decorate it?

• Wordwall sequencing activities so children retell and predict a story independently
• Wayground (Quizizz) for instant formative feedback that surfaces misconceptions in the moment
• Padlet so every child contributes, including the quieter ones whose voices are easy to miss

If it only decorates, I leave it out.

I lead the way I teach: by making good practice concrete and shareable. At Beaconhouse I planned and delivered CPD for around 20 to 25 colleagues on the Happy Schools Framework and the RIGOR framework, focused on routines they could use the next morning.

Coordinating across a phase also taught me to listen first. The best ideas usually already exist in the room; my job is often to surface them, build consistency and help them spread.

A calm, purposeful room where every child knows what they are doing and why, and where I can see the learning move within the lesson, not just at the end of a unit.

My formal observations were graded Outstanding overall, and the feedback I hold onto was about voice, expression and questioning: keeping children thinking and talking. That, to me, is the real measure. Not a quiet room, but a thinking one.

Because getting it right in a new country mattered more to me than protecting a title. At Beaconhouse I had grown from classroom teacher to Subject Lead and then School Coordinator, supporting Lower Primary teachers across Years 1 and 2. Then I relocated to the UAE, and I made a deliberate choice.

• Get into a UAE classroom and earn my UAE MOE teaching licence (KG to Grade 2)
• Learn the UK curriculum and Cambridge Primary context from the inside, not from a handbook
• Rebuild deep, current classroom credibility in a new system before leading within it

Three years of Year 1 English later, that groundwork is done. I am ready to step back toward the leadership and teacher-development work I already love, this time with UAE classroom experience behind it.

I teach because I believe every child has potential and deserves to be seen. My purpose is simple: to help children grow in confidence, communication and character.

Next, I am looking for a school that values evidence and warmth in equal measure, where I can keep lifting literacy results and take on more of the leadership and teacher-development work I already love.