A Breakthrough College day begins at 8:30am as you sign in. Regardless of which centre you are based at, we like to start in the same way, with 15 minutes to get yourself organised for the day ahead before a staff briefing at 8:45 at each centre. 

Led by the Head of Centre, these briefings begin not with instructions or orders but with a moment of thoughtfulness before praying together. Not everyone who works here has a Christian faith, and we encourage those who don’t to use this time as a moment of reflection. Either way, this practice of focusing our minds on the students we are here to help, and reflecting on how we can best help them is an important one. 

After briefing we hold short ten minute meetings on some mornings about individual students. In these meetings we focus on our plans for that student over the coming weeks and how we can best facilitate their success and support each other. It ensures that every member of staff has a holistic insight in to what that student is doing and how things are progressing for them.

The students then arrive at 9:30am, and we each make sure we are available to greet them as soon as they arrive. The day is split in to four sessions. We have a responsibility to ensure that students are always 1:1 (or 1:2) with a member of staff, which means we have to escort them between lessons and eat lunch together.

Once the students leave at 2:30pm all staff have a 30 minute break where we are encouraged to switch off all screens, get outside and enjoy some movement. We then have an hour and a half between 3pm and 4:30pm to complete all planning, marking, and to hold any meetings.

It is our responsibility to make sure we are fully briefed about each student’s EHCP and notes, and to plan appropriate sessions for the students we are timetabled with. Each student has a Sponsor who knows them best, and these can be an excellent starting point when you’re first beginning to work with an individual.

All staff leave at 4:30 and we strongly encourage all colleagues to NOT take work home with them. This is a marked contrast with mainstream education but we want our colleagues to be fresh and fully present when they are with us, and we firmly believe in the balance of work-life and home-life. We ask all colleagues to speak with us if the workload ever becomes too much.

We provide regular opportunities for professional development by way of training and career progression, and we work really hard to foster a sense of team spirit and togetherness. If this approach resonates with you we would love to hear from you.