Blog

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week! 2024’s theme of the year is “Move More for Your Mental Health”, and we’ve asked the Smile team about what this means to them.

We all know how important reading is for children. For some children, reading is an enjoyable activity, but for others, it can feel like a chore. This is why it’s so important for schools to instil a love of reading in their pupils, as this can encourage children to read for pleasure, and in turn, read more.

We’re over the moon to hear that one of our partner schools, Thorns Collegiate Academy, has been praised by Ofsted for its improvement since its last inspection. As a result, the Academy is no longer considered to be in special measures by Ofsted.

You might never have considered becoming a Cover Supervisor, but if you don’t yet have QTS and are looking to build your experience in the classroom or shift your working pattern to a more flexible, day-to-day schedule, this role might be the right choice for you.

Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust were delighted to welcome His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh to the official opening of Shireland CBSO Academy in West Bromwich.

Did you know that approximately 15-20% of the population has a neurological difference? This week is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, and there’s no better opportunity for schools to explore how they could extend this inclusion to their neurodiverse pupils.

Congratulations on getting an interview! You’ve researched the most common interview questions, but are you prepared for some of the more specific competency-based interview questions you might receive?

Smile Education has partnered with Mowbray Education Trust to provide short and long-term supply across the Trust.

First of all, congratulations on landing an interview! You've tackled the first hurdle, but the biggest challenge is just over the horizon. If you're an ECT looking for your first teaching job, you might be more nervous than excited right now. Don't just wing it - go in as prepared as you can be with our top interview tips for teachers.

Smile Education has announced it will be the new managed service provider for the recruitment of Endeavour Multi-Academy Trust’s supply and permanent staff.

Teaching assistants are hugely important in helping students to feel safe, understood and supported in achieving their potential. Could it be the perfect job for you?

If you're considering a teaching assistant or SEN teaching assistant job, we're here to help. In this blog, we've explored everything you'll need to know before you get started. This includes information about different TA levels, qualifications you'll need and more.

Wondering if now is the time to take the leap into supply teaching? Whether you've been teaching decades, or even if you're just starting out, supply teaching might be the perfect next step for you.

Sure, since we're a supply teaching recruitment agency, you might call us biased. However, because we're passionate about matching the right people with the right roles, we're an honest bunch. So, we've put together a realistic list of some of the benefits of supply teaching.

This year, we thought we’d celebrate the talents of the children at our schools by hosting a Smile Christmas card competition! Take a peek at some of our favourite entries in this blog...

Have you heard the news? We have teamed up with Sheffield Wednesday FC Community Programme to organise Soccer Stars football tournaments for SEN students across South Yorkshire.

I’m Rosie, the SEN consultant for the East Midlands. I’m a 360 consultant, so I do both the client and candidate side of things, including business development, sourcing candidates, interviewing candidates, and more.

Smile Education, a leading education recruitment agency based in Birmingham City Centre, has shared news of their inclusion in the first list of the UK’s Leading Recruiters, in a report released by the Financial Times.

With a partnership launched this month, Tudor Grange Academies Trust has teamed up with Smile Education as their managed service provider for supply and permanent roles.

We have some fantastic news to share: Smile Education, an award-winning education recruitment agency, has expanded its horizons to South Yorkshire! With our head office rooted in the heart of Birmingham and our recent expansion to the North West, we're thrilled to continue our journey northward by opening an office in Sheffield

Smile Education has donated hundreds of items of uniform to local schools across the West Midlands since the beginning of September.

We caught up with Claire Maclean, CEO of Tudor Grange Academies Trust to discuss the current education landscape, the lasting effects of the pandemic on the sector and what the future holds for the Trust. 

We’re so proud to announce that we’ve achieved 100% in our latest APSCo Compliance+ Audit!

In today's rapidly changing world, the topic of school uniforms has remained a subject of debate. With some calling for them to be banned altogether, others find plenty of perks for uniforms, such as cost-effectiveness and equality. One of the biggest concerns that often comes with the topic is the cost of school uniforms and how this can affect children and their parents, especially during the cost of living crisis.

Are you thinking of entering into the world of teaching and want to develop your classroom experience? Working as a Cover Supervisor might be an excellent place for you to start, especially if you’ve just recently graduated.

Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, who have recently partnered with Smile Education to add value to their recruitment process, have welcomed their first student cohort to the new Shireland CBSO Academy.

Since joining us in October 2023, Ellie has achieved two promotions and is on track for a massively successful future at Smile Education.

We sat down with her to learn more about what led her to change career paths and enter the world of recruitment, and some of the advice she’d offer those who are looking to join the industry.

Whether you’ve been teaching for decades or if it’s your first leap into the real world of education, it’s understandable to find returning to work quite daunting. To help you feel a little better, we’ve drummed up a few reminders to reassure you in time for your return.

Meet Olivia, who started Smile Education as a graduate in 2013. Since then, she has gone on to achieve promotion after promotion.

Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust have partnered with Smile Education as their managed service provider for supply job roles starting from September 2023.

Halesowen College has awarded Recruitment Resourcer Chelsea and Smile Education “SWAP Employer of the Year” in this year’s Employer Awards.

Ever wanted to know what it’s like to work in Recruitment? With so many different roles to choose from, there’s a lot of scope for flexibility if you’re looking to work within the industry. 

If you’d consider yourself a people person and are passionate about supporting candidates in achieving their dream job, but aren’t too sure about getting involved business development – you’re in luck. You could find a job as a Recruitment Resourcer.

When it comes to education and learning, it can be easy to forget about art and creativity in favour of other subjects. However, creativity has been shown time and time again by research to be intrinsically linked with the motivation to learn. As a result, the creative nature of art is an essential part of children’s learning.

The team at Smile Education is expanding, and with so many different roles within the recruitment sector, we thought we’d shine a light on what you can expect when you become a part of APSCo's Recruitment Company of the Year (hint - that’s us!).

With progression opportunities, flexible hours and the chance to change a student’s life, becoming a teaching assistant means choosing a role where no two days are the same.

Are you starting your first teaching job this September? Tackling your first few months as a teacher might sound daunting, but that doesn’t mean you have to go through it alone. Remember, there are so many people in the same boat as you, and everyone starts somewhere!

This month, our Managing Director Katy and our North West Director Kash took on their first half marathons in aid of charity – and they both smashed it!

We've got some great news! Smile Education have expanded, and are now hiring for Teaching Roles, Teaching Assistant Jobs and more across Greater Manchester.

There’s no one-size-fits all when it comes to teaching roles. Depending on your experience, flexibility or career goals, there are plenty of options to choose from when it comes to finding out what's best for you. Here, we've outlined some of the differences between both supply teaching and opting for a permanent position.

As with any job, being a teacher certainly comes with its challenges. For the most part, the good parts outweigh the bad. With Valentine’s coming up, love is in the air and so there’s no better time than the present to focus on the positives of being a teacher; all the reasons why you love doing what you do. 

Even though the internet creates better opportunities for research and communication it can be dangerous so, with today being Safer Internet Day we wanted to share a few ways you can help keep your students safe when they use the internet.

The East Midlands is home to thriving cities and picturesque country views making it a great place to not just teach but live too.

Some positive people to follow on social media to help raise your spirits. 

Talking about mental health, isn’t always easy but having an open dialogue about mental health can really help and ensure that people find the help that they need. 

Our mental health champion, Louise, gives her some advice on how to switch off and unwind during the Christmas break (or any break for that matter!).

Even though teaching can be extremely rewarding school staff still love their time off for many reasons, so we asked our school staff what their top reason for looking forward to the holidays were and put together a list of what luxuries teachers get to enjoy over the holidays…

With Christmas being such an exciting time of year it’s easy to get swept up in the celebrations and everything Christmas, but not everyone in your class will be able to do the same. 

For those with different religious beliefs, who don’t celebrate Christmas or might find this time of year emotionally difficult, it can feel a bit isolating so we wanted to share a few ways you can help everyone in your class feel included.

Mental health is just as important as physical health. Don’t suffer in silence. Here are some helplines below which offer support and advice on a variety of different topics to support you.

Christmas is just around the corner and both students and teachers are beginning to write their Christmas lists so we wanted to share what is on the top of our teachers' Christmas lists.

You may have heard of recruitment consultants but what are recruitment resourcers? Charlotte, one member of our growing resourcing team, explains more about the role that resourcers play in recruitment. 

Anti-bullying Week will take place from the 14th to the 18th of November and we wanted to do our bit to support our teachers and teaching assistants. We strongly believe that every child deserves to feel valued and comfortable in their classroom and one of the best ways to do this is to create a culture of kindness amongst your students. We’ve collated our tips from our school staff and shared them below. 

Everyone working in education is all too familiar with the problem of bullying within schools, from the 14th to the 18th of November it’s National Anti-Bullying Week, coordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, so we wanted to share some tips on how to tackle bullying in your school.

In this blog, we wanted to honour National Anti-bullying Week by sharing the free CPD online anti-bullying training offered by the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA).

From October 1st 2022, the way we are required to conduct right to work checks has changed. We’ve detailed the new changes and how this may affect you when registering or re-registering with us.

Black History Month is coming up and it’s the perfect time to acknowledge and celebrate the black people in your community’s culture, history and achievements with your class.

For many of us in the Smile office, some of our favourite memories at school are fun-filled days with parties, dress up and celebrations so, of course, we were a little surprised about the recent decisions some schools have made to ban Halloween.

With such a difficult decision we thought we would share some of the reasons we found for and against banning Halloween so you can decide for yourself!

Seeing your students get excited about the upcoming celebrations is one of the best parts of teaching but it can be distracting when it comes to your little ones learning. We asked a few of our teachers and they have suggested a few ways you can keep learning alive during Halloween.

We are so proud to announce that we are the winners of Recruitment Company of the Year 2022 at the APSCo Awards for Excellence.

Speaking more than one language opens up a world of possibilities, from being able to communicate with a variety of different people from different cultures and countries to having an advantage when it comes to future career prospects, we believe every student should learn a language, here are a few more reasons why…

What is APSCo Compliance+ and how does it impact you? Find out more.

As we head into a new academic year, we felt it was important to reminder all of our school staff about the upcoming resignation dates and offer some advice on what to do and how to go about it.

As a lot of ECTs tend to choose short-term supply work to complete their ECT years with us, we know what schools are looking for and what you need to do to pass you ECT years.

With so much knowledge it would be selfish to keep it to ourselves so we wanted to give you a few pointers on how to pass with flying colours!

We’ve had the pleasure of working with the Albion Foundation since 2018 to bring football to children in primary schools across Birmingham. This year was no different and we had 15 schools join us for some football fun. 

We recently had the pleasure of working alongside the Aston Villa Foundation, the charity behind professional football club Aston Villa to organise, not one but two special needs football festivals. 

We understand that your time is precious and researching age-appropriate, LGBTQ+ inclusive books isn’t going to be on the top of your to-do list. This is why we have asked our school staff for their top recommendations for various school ages.

We work with many ECTs and know how daunting the application and interview process can be so we wanted to make it easier for you with this list of what schools are looking for from our schools themselves.

Our fabulous (and very hardworking) diversity and inclusion team organised our very own Pride party this month as part of our Pride 365 celebrations!

Diversity and Inclusion is one of our main priorities as an education recruitment agency and that is why we have given our school staff access to free Diversity and Inclusion training through our online training platform.

As it is Diabetes Awareness Week we wanted to share Elisha's experience working in recruitment as someone with Type 1 diabetes.

We recently asked our Instagram followers for any questions they may have about supply teaching with Smile. 

After getting a few questions in we thought what better idea than to pop our answers in a blog for you all, this way they’re extra-accessible for those that do have the same questions. 

Here are our answers…

With all of the Pride flags and celebrations over the next few weeks, your students will be curious about the history and significance of this month. As their teacher, you might be unsure about how to answer all of their questions so we have come up with a few tips on how to do so.

We understand that working as a teacher, although rewarding, can come with stress and pressure, especially when you are just starting out. This is why we have asked a few of our teachers, who have been there and done it, and have come up with a few tips on how to handle stress and pressure as an ECT.

Sophie joined our Graduate Academy in January and started doing roles such as exam 1:1 reading/scribing, cover supervisor and general TA support. She has just since secured an English academic coach role from April-July through us to continue to gain experience in a more specialist role. 

We asked her a few questions to help others who may be considering joining make a more informed decision. This is what she had to say.

Victoria graduated university during the pandemic and found the current job market challenging with many roles requiring experience that she wasn't able to obtain due to the restrictions in place. Our Graduate Academy has given her the skills necessary and the experience needed to find a job in the field of her degree; psychology.

We asked her a few questions to help others who may be considering joining make a more informed decision. This is what she had to say.

We're fundraising! Our Charity of the Year, Help Harry Help Others, does so much for those affected by cancer in our local area so we wanted to help them by raising money.

Our secondary and SEN teams came together and decided to create an Easter hamper and have a raffle to raise money for Help Harry Help Others. It was a huge success with school staff, our colleagues and family members all getting involved!

As an education recruitment agency, we work with real-life superheroes every day. Teaching children isn’t an easy feat but the world depends on it and teachers are here to help. This got us thinking, if Marvel superheroes were teachers what would they teach?

While working in schools you will meet students from all walks of life. You’ll support students of different ethnicities, religions, abilities and sexualities. As a teacher or teaching assistant you have the responsibility to ensure that students feel heard, safe and accepted and to ensure that students are prepared to collaborate with others regardless of their differences. This is why we have compiled a list of ways you can embrace diversity in your classroom.

With May 4th being the official Star Wars day it got us thinking, was Yoda a good teacher?

Once you have been offered a permanent role in one of our partner schools you might be wondering how you should go about accepting the job offer. As we have 13 years of experience in education recruitment, we know that it is always a good idea to formally accept a job offer so here are a few tips on how to do so.

When working in a school environment, knowing and understanding invisible disabilities is key to ensuring your student's success. We hope this blog can help you be as supportive as possible for those in your class with invisible disabilities!

We work with a variety of SEN schools and see how important it is to share positive representations of people from all walks of life this is why we wanted to share some teachers from around the world that have succeeded despite their disabilities and now inspire students and their communities to achieve their own goals.

With Easter just around the corner, teachers and teaching assistants may be scrambling to think of some new and exciting Easter crafts for their students, if you’re looking for something new, these activities are no yolk!

Easter is always an exciting time of year regardless of your age (we personally can’t wait for our Easter chocolate this year!). So it’s no wonder you would want to bring some Easter fun into your classroom this April. To help get you started we have asked some of our teachers for their favourite activities to get your class egg-cited for Easter!

Did you know that March is Women’s History Month? The month is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of women throughout history. As we’re an education recruitment agency, we wanted to focus on some of the amazing women who’ve had an instrumental role in ensuring that women across the globe have access to education. 

We couldn’t let Women’s History Month go by without mentioning some of the incredible female teachers who have changed the world. 

Meet Tia! She’s a graduate teaching assistant who has been working in one of our SEN primary schools. Tia is a valued member of Graduate Academy and joined us upon completing a degree in Counselling at the University of Coventry. 

Working in education means we deal with a variety of different people every day and are passionate about promoting and celebrating diversity. This is why we couldn't help but get involved with LGBTQIA+ History Month. 

Say hello to Ferida who completed our Introduction to Teaching Assistant Course with South and City College Birmingham back in September 2021. Find out how she found it and what she's been up to since completing it.

If you work with children in a school, nursery or another setting there are a number of policies you’ll need to be aware of, so we have highlighted the key policies you should know.

Offering to run an extra-curricular activity, even if only once a week, can really help you stand out in school (for all the right reasons!). Below we’ve shared some ideas of extra-curricular activities that you could run and how they’ll benefit the students.

Some teaching assistants will work with one teacher, however, most will spend their day changing between different classrooms and age groups and if you’re on supply you might be visiting different schools too! This is why the contents of your bag are so important if you want your day to be smooth sailing.

We couldn't let British Science Week go by without mentioning some of Britain's most influential scientists and giving a shout out to our amazing science teachers.

English teachers - hold on to your feathered, silk hats - it's Shakespeare Week.

While lockdown may seem like a lifetime ago many children, parents and teachers are still feeling the impact of school closures. Children are behind and as a result teachers and parents are feeling stressed. However, with children now back in school full-time and returning to their normal routines there is light at the end of the tunnel.

After speaking with our teaching and teaching support staff, we’ve collated some examples of rewards that you may have success with in the classroom.

February is LGBTQIA+ History Month. After talking to some of our teachers we have come up with a list of ways you can incorporate this month into your teaching.

We have decided to put our own spin on Pride 365 to celebrate diversity all year round!

After the prime minister’s announcement about easing ‘Plan B’ measures, you might be wondering what this means for you and our schools. Here is everything you need to know.

We have composed a list of all the terms and phrases you need to know as a SEN teacher to make your life in the classroom more manageable.