Blog

Blended learning is a term that has been thrown around a lot lately but what is it and what are the benefits to students and teachers?

So, just what will the new normal in schools when they reopen? We’ve broken down the main guidance from the Department of Education (DfE) for you.

So, you’ve heard about Smile Tutors but you’re not quite sure what one is or if it’s right for you? Don’t worry, here is everything you’ll need to know about tutoring.

Thinking about becoming a Smile Tutor but need a little convincing? Here are all the reasons that we think you should give it a try.

The day has finally arrived it’s World Emoji Day! To celebrate we wanted to do something a bit different. As you may know, emojis represent a wide, complex range of emotions. Emotions that teachers go through everyday…

It might be hard for your students to believe but when you’re not at school, you’re actually just a pretty ordinary person. But spotting a teacher outside of the classroom is much easier than you think.  In this blog we tell you how.

There are lots of advantages to becoming a supply teacher and it can be the perfect job for someone who loves being in the classroom but hates the many other duties that come with a permanent teaching post.

You may have heard all the cons about supply teaching so let us tell you some of the pros.

As it’s Wellbeing Week, we asked Suneta Bagri, former headteacher, current wellbeing coach and founder of the Every Teacher Matters project to gives her advice to school staff on how to start the day off right and give your wellbeing a boost.

No school? No problem? Here we share some fun home science experiments you can enjoy with your children at home.

Smile Education offer a range of training courses, you can read more about them here.

Although the role of a support worker is a rewarding role (just take a look at our day in the life blog to find out more) it can also be challenging and demanding. As with any job, you’ll be expected to interview and asked a series of questions to determine your suitability to the role.

If you aren't familiar with Twitter it might seem like a bit of a minefield but it can be a really great tool for teachers and headteachers alike. Our marketing and social media executive, Kelly, shares her top Twitter tips.

In mental health awareness week Suneta Bagri has kindly shared this blog with us which share some important thoughts on wellbeing for our staff. 

Our MD and founder Katy Rees blogs for NQTS on their job search and how agencies can be used to help especially in these unprecedented times.

We wanted to share this fantastic blog with you as looking after our own wellbeing is more important than ever at this time. Here are some great tips from Suneta Bagri for our staff. 

Its our month! National Smile month that is, here we tell you 100 things that make us smile, our favourite things are much needed in these challenging times.

As its childrens book week this week we thought it was a great opprtunity to share 5 of the team at Smile Educations favourite childrens books with you.

On May 4th we share life lessons you can learn from Star Wars.

One of our Supply Staff shares their experience and tips for being kind to yourself in lockdown. Jess is also a holistic health and nutrition coach.

On national gardening day we share 5 lessons children can learn from gardening, an ideal activity when so many of us are home schooling our children during lockdown.

If you work for us in our schools and are paid via People, did you know you can access a number of free training courses? This blog explains how and what is available.

We wanted to share this fantastic blog with you as home working is quite new for many of us and comes with its own challenges! Here are some great tips from Suneta Bagri for our staff. 

The idea of home schooling your children can be a daunting one but fear not there are lots of fun things to do with them for free. We have put them all together for you in this handy blog.

As Easter is approaching, here are some fun tips for ideas of activities you can do at home. We would love it if you share any pictures of your creations with us.

Our children’s residential recruitment consultant, Jaleesa, gave us the low down on essential qualities and personality traits that she looks for in children’s support workers.

It is a tough and uncertain time for everyone right now. It’s not an easy time for any of us but we have to stay positive. Training the mind is just as important as training the body. So, we asked Suneta Bagri, former headteacher, current wellbeing coach and founder of the Every Teacher Matters project to give us along with all of our lovely school staff some tips and advice on staying positive. 

We asked Louise, our resident wellbeing guru (and Compliance Team Leader) to share her tips on meditation with all of our lovely school staff. Here is what she had to say...

While you can't go to the gym right now, there are plenty of things that you can do at home to keep fit - things that won't cost you a penny and that might turn out to be pretty fun.

Looking to spruce up your LinkedIn profile, we've got some tips for you. 

In light of the recent school closures and government advice on social distancing, it’s apparent that we are all feeling a little out of sorts. Which is why we asked Suneta Bagri, former teacher and headteacher turned Health & Wellbeing Champion in Schools and Founder of the Every Teacher Matters Project to offer some suggestions on things that you can do to improve your mental health and wellbeing. 

Our team have been working from home for the past week now and in that time we have managed to come up with some tips to improve your wellbeing and to stop you from getting cabin fever during the school closures. 

Unless you work in education, it’s unlikely you’ll have any idea of what a cover supervisor is. But it’s likely that you may have been taught by a cover supervisor at some point during your time at school.

When Shaik joined us back in March 2018, he wasn’t familiar with the role either but he has gone on to become one of our most valuable cover supervisors. So, who better than to tell you about being a cover supervisor and what it entails?

We sat down with Andrew, one of our amazing supply teachers and asked him to answer 5 of your most burning questions about supply teaching. Here is what he had to say...

Why do exam invigilation with Smile? This is what our exam invigilators have to say.

How to reach our Staffordshire-based Cannock office by car, train and bus.

During our most recent APSCo Compliance+ audit in October 2019, we are very proud to say that we achieved a score of 99%.

Documents that you'll need to bring to your Smile registration.

Here is a little more info about what you can expect at each stage of your registration with Smile Education.

To make getting here a little easier we’ve put together some handy directions to our Birmingham-based office.

Louise went from dance teacher to cover supervisor with the help of Smile.

Last year, we did something a little out of the box… We organised a football tournament for schools around Birmingham and we're doing the same this year too! 

Valentine’s Day has us feeling all warm and fuzzy and got us thinking about the many reasons why we love working in education recruitment (nothing to do with it being half-term tomorrow, of course). Anyway, these are the 10 reasons that we love working in education recruitment.

It's International Day of Women and Girls in Science and to celebrate we thought we’d take a look at some of our favourite and most influential women in science throughout history.

Tomorrow is Safer Internet Day so, we’ve come up with some ideas to help you celebrate Safer Internet Day in your school or residential setting.

To show our commitment to mental health we took part in Time to Talk Day.

We recently opened up our new, second office in Cannock and while we’ll always love working in Birmingham, Cannock does hold a special place in our hearts. Here are the reasons why we love working in Cannock.

The team shared their favourite books from now and back then in honour of National Reading Day.

Our tips to help you beat the January Blues.

Our head office is based in Birmingham city centre and has been for over 10 years now. As such we’ve really grown to love the place and all it has to offer. These are the 10 reasons why…

So, you've attended your registration interview with Smile, what happens next?

A New Year is the start of a new beginning and if one of your New Year’s resolutions is to find a new teaching job, we at Smile have some CV tips which are sure to help you score the teaching or teaching support role of your dreams

Keywords, buzzwords, whatever you call them, it’s important to include them in your CV. Here are five we think that you should add to your latest CV and we’ve also been kind enough to show you just how to use them too!

2019 is officially over and 2020 has begun but while we are still getting used to writing and/or typing 20 instead of 19, we wanted to take a look back over the past year and more importantly say thank you.

As a teaching assistant, you will be required to lead guided reading sessions with individual children and small groups. While this might sound easy, keeping students engaged is easier said than done. But don’t worry, we have picked the brains of the many Teaching Assistants we work with and compiled a list of helpful ideas. Have a look at some of the strategies we’ve suggested.

Why become a support worker? Well, ultimately, it’s a rewarding job. Our residential division explains why...

Priya, a graduate from De Montfort University, talks about what she learnt from her internship with Smile.

We have joined the Bags for Brummies initiative to support the homeless community in Birmingham. The collection is organised by Love Brum, is a Birmingham based charity that engages with and supports local people and businesses to build an even better Birmingham.

School technicians support and assist staff and students by preparing materials and equipment and are involved in practical aspects of lessons. Typically, a school technician will specialise in a certain subject area such as science, IT, or DT.

‘Tis the season for Christmas jumper wearing and today we donned our festive knits to help raise money for St. Mary’s Hospice Birmingham.

Working in a nursery can be a very challenging job but it is important that in that environment and around the little ones you know how to work effectively. Here are 5 quick tips to help you become the best nursery worker you can be.

It's all getting very festive in the Smile office and starting to look and feel like Christmas.

Considering exam invigiluation but not sure what is required? We have the answers you've been looking for.

Bernie is one of our longest-serving (and hardest working) supply teachers and has been with Smile for years! So, if you are working what it's like working for a supply teaching agency or what the job of a supply teacher involves and getting some tips then keep reading.

Our Coventry Education Recruitment Consultant, has been spending a lot of time in Coventry recently, registering teachers and teaching assistants and meeting with schools. During their downtime, he’s been spending some time exploring the lovely city of Coventry and finding out what it has to offer. What they discovered are some really fantastic places that would be perfect for school trips or even a fun family day out. 

Planning on registering with our teaching agency, but can’t make it to our offices? Don’t worry - we’ll come to you. 

Learn more about what you need to do to become a support worker.

An insight into our most recent cover supervisor training workshop.

We are so thrilled to announce that this year we are the winners of the CSR Initiative of the Year award 2019!

Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of a support worker is like? Well, wonder no longer. 

Ever wondered what life is like for an NQT? James tells all.

We are proud to announce that we have just opened our very own Cannock office! 

Back in June, some of the Smile team walked the Malvern Hills to help to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK.

We sat down with Anna, one of the headteachers from the Erdington Schools Collaboration, to find out more about how the collaboration works. 

A shout out to all the caretakers, cleaners, administrators, IT technicians, subject technicians and exam invigilators out there who make our schools better places.

Teachers inspire us in many ways and primary school teacher, Chrystel is no different. Except it’s not just her lessons that are inspiring children, it’s her astonishing weight loss journey.

We are really proud to have officially launched our residential division. 

Everything you need to know about the role of a cover supervisor.

Each year we ask all of our schools, teachers and support staff for their opinions on Smile and we are pleased to say that we have received some great feedback this year. Here is what they had to say...

One in seven NQTs who had qualified in 2017 had dropped out by the following year. To help reduce this number, here are some survival tips to pass on to your NQTs to ensure that they make it through the year in one piece!

We'd like to give a very warm welcome to Laura, who recently joined us as our Director of Leadership. The role will see Laura work alongside our school supply team and place headteachers and other school leaders in roles across the Midlands.

We are thrilled to announce that we have been shortlisted for the CSR Initiative of the Year in the APSCo Awards for Excellence 2019.

Science is complex and at times can be confusing. So, in order for students to retain the information you are teaching, we advise that you make lessons as engaging and hands-on as possible. Doing so will help you bring the subject matter to life and ensure that they remember all about energy or cell biology or whatever you might be teaching!

Teaching is a great and rewarding career where you will have the opportunity to touch the lives of many young people. The biggest decision you have to make, however, is whether you would like to be a primary or secondary teacher, as while they may look similar on paper, in reality, they are very different.

As an English Teacher, you have a pretty important job as you are the person responsible for teaching children to not only read and write but to learn from their peers and have challenging conversations.

Doing a teaching degree and set to graduate soon? We bet we can guess that you are feeling a little nervous. Not to worry though, that’s completely normal - we’ve all had first-day jitters!

Your NQT year will be full of new experiences. While some of them will be good, others might be more of a challenge. For example, you’ll get to witness children grasping a complex idea as a result of your teaching. On the other hand, you’ll also be confronted by some, at times, hairpulling (maybe literally) situations. But don’t panic, we have some advice on how to deal with them.

Your QTS is in the bag and all that stands between you and your full qualification is your NQT induction. So, what’s in store?

As a teacher, it is important to sometimes place yourself in the students of your students. For example, imagine you are given a task to complete, only to find that it’s been written in Egyptian hieroglyphics that you cannot understand. It’s likely that your confusion would quickly turn to frustration and then to disinterest. Not a nice feeling, right?

We are very proud to work with some fantastic special educational needs schools and residential homes across the West Midlands, as well as some amazing SEN teachers and support staff. We understand that working with children with special needs can at times be challenging but know that ultimately it’s very rewarding.

Taking on a Teaching Assistant role is a great way of getting first-hand classroom experience before you embark on a PGCE. To help rid you of any first day nerves, we’ve put together a list of helpful tips to help prepare you for life in the classroom.

The team at Smile is made up of consultants and compliance admins. While our consultants work hard to find you work, it’s our compliance admins who make sure that you are able to work. Get to know Conor, our Senior Compliance Administrator, a little better and find out what his day is like.

Emma, our Director, previously worked abroad as a holiday rep before joining Smile. This is her story and why she thinks that those who have repped make great recruitment consultants. 

Recruitment companies often have a bad reputation but not all of them deserve it. Katy, MD of Smile, talks about the values which Smile has that makes Smile different than the rest.

We recently signed the Time to Change to show our commitment to mental health in the workplace.

We have done our bit for the local community by donating 38 advent calendars to Eyeland Optician's collection for the Black Country Food Bank, helping them to beat their current donation record. 

Last week, we are proud to report that we hosted our third SEN football tournament at Aston Villa. A total of 12 local special needs schools attended and we provided refreshments and trophies for the children who participated in the event.

No one really likes revising but it is essential for exam success. However, it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom, in fact, there are ways for you to make revising more interesting and fun. Here are our top revision tips we think that your students should know.