Camberley, England, United Kingdom
After a period of study, and volunteering as a youth leader, I joined the SEND department of a local secondary school. I qualified at Level 7 (CCET CPT3A) in Ability, Achievement and Emotional & Behavioural testing, in conjunction with the required teaching qualification, and registered with the British Psychological Society. At this point I was delivering English lessons to SEND Year 7 students, via various learning styles and resources, to meet the needs of neurodivergent students and increase access opportunities. CPD includes: Mental Health First Aider training, CBT diploma, ASD training around the SPELL framework, Dyslexia Creates - neurodiversity, Mindfulness for wellbeing and peak performance, annual JCQ updater courses. My main role is to promote access to the curriculum via various alternative arrangements. I have set up a robust online referral system, delivered training to whole school and small groups, created an Access Arrangements handbook. I have developed transparency and accessibly to data to raise awareness. Referral responses include: in-class recommendations, intervention, diagnostic assessment, group workshops or a one-to-one support programme. The role covers Year 7 - Year 13, plus Year 6 and Year 12 during summer terms to assure smooth transition. My role extended into infant and primary diagnostic assessment for several years, with the aim of supporting teachers and parents with early years support and more quickly onto appropriate pathways. I have delivered Art lessons to the nurture group, drawing on my art and design background and creating accessible yet creative schemes of work. The promotion of technology has been led by myself, promoting independence. I line manage 2 ELSAs, an access assistant and mentor an apprentice. My aim now, is to step into a pastoral role that will make a difference in society and utilise my experience, skills and qualifications.
Achieving a full time freelance design contract at EA (plus leading on freelancers and production scheduling) along with regular projects from THQ (continuing work on Nickelodeon), Ubisoft, Lego Interactive, Random House, Knowledge Adventure. I reflected and realised the draw of Edutainment projects, realising that writing/pitching was also something I was enjoying. This period of freelancing was a 7-day-week workload with top clients mostly working on packaging, promotions and advertising.
(Formerly iMagic Games) Through my networking I was sought out as Production Manager. The genre RPG, a new area of gaming for me. I worked closely with the web design team creating graphics, along with the familiar packaging and advertising. This time of continued networking brought me into a position of full freelance capability.
This was an active direction, moving into the exciting and evolving world of gaming. I developed knowledge of the product and audience via marketing and promotion, working closely with sales and marketing teams. I managed production, deadlines, and worked with teams across Europe and America. Products included adventures games: Myst, Riven, The Last Express, Prince of Persia, Nickelodeon’s Rugrats, and Edutainment included: the Carmen Sandiego series, Zoombinies, Maths Workshop and the Living Books series. Tasks included packaging, promotion, advertising - all requiring advanced photoshop and illustrator skillset. New skills acquired: attending gaming shows and product launches demonstrating product knowledge and networking. Brøderbund was bought out by TLC in a business move to weaken the company’s position in the industry. I relocated to TLC but moved on just before the 3 month transition period. Here I worked closely with the production manager which paved the way for my next move.
This position was less creative, more corporate, working on brochures and advertising, and utilising Adobe skills: Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXpress, Publisher. I moved to senior designer within the year; the most memorable project was working on the Atlanta Olympics promotional materials, and meeting some great athletes along the way. New skills acquired: knowing the product, marketing and sales. Team building days offered opportunity to buddy with sales reps out on the road, achieving top of sales leaderboard and a wider implementation of consumer needs within marketing.