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At Catch Up®, we have a fantastic team of Accredited Trainers who deliver our courses across the UK, Ireland and Australia!
Joyce Hughes has been a member of the team since 2012, and is a very valued Catch Up Accredited Trainer for both Catch Up® Literacy and Catch Up® Numeracy.
Before working for Catch Up®, Joyce enjoyed a very successful career as a teacher in primary, secondary and special schools, as well as becoming a SENCO in a secondary setting. She went on to work for a Local Authority, fulfilling many roles including Training and Development Adviser for support staff, LA lead for HLTA development, HLTA senior assessor and moderator, Inclusion Development officer and School Support officer.
Joyce got to know Catch Up® before becoming an Accredited Trainer, as she ran a pilot in her Local Authority using Catch Up® Literacy in secondary schools. She told us how much she gained from ‘…witnessing the difference it made to the pupils’ attitudes about themselves and their potential to be successful readers – I was converted!’ We are very pleased that she was, and feel very lucky to have Joyce as one of our trainers now!
Joyce is based in South Yorkshire, but travels far and wide with her Catch Up® hat on! Last term alone, she delivered Catch Up® training in South Lanarkshire, Leeds, Newcastle, East Ayrshire and Durham! She certainly has packing down to a fine art!
She has been made very welcome at a number of different venues including primary schools, for a Local Authority support team and at our own Regional Training Centres.
Joyce told us about some of the fantastic stories and feedback she has received recently from staff delivering the intervention in schools. “One school’s support team were so bowled over by Catch Up® that they believed that all schools in their area needed to do the training! In another area, a Senior Leader attending training urged staff to speak to teachers in their schools about Catch Up®, as this was going to be their Local Authority strategy for improving literacy and numeracy. One teacher told me of her work with a child who isn’t interested in reading and spends a lot of time under the table. She started to complete the prepared reading with them for a Catch Up® Literacy session, and they came across and sat down, looking through the book with her. She said she was amazed!”
Joyce also told us of a member of school staff who has asked to reschedule her timetable so that she can support as many learners as possible with the interventions, and another attendee whose school was so impressed they decided to invest in new reading books just for Catch Up®! She said, “I enjoy the build-up of enthusiasm when staff just want the training to end so they can get going with the intervention!”
As with all our trainers, Joyce feels she gains a great deal from delivering the Catch Up® courses. Last term, she was bowled over by the enthusiasm and passion of attendees, and humbled on hearing the vast range of learner needs being met. She has found it particularly interesting to hear how different settings teach reading, and how teachers trained in different geographical locations may approach phonics in different ways. She has found that, when the Catch Up® interventions are stuck to, the learners make the most progress, and she often can be heard saying, ‘keep it simple!’
Joyce finished with some funny memories ‘from the road’. “At a B&B – the sight of the male peacock staring at himself in a mirror, from several angles! …and the gaggle of free range turkeys who followed me down the lane, gobbling noisily behind me, only turning around when I asked what were they doing for Christmas this year!”
The life of a Catch Up® Accredited Trainer is certainly an interesting one!
Catch Up® is the working name of The Caxton Trust, a not-for-profit charity registered in England and Wales (1072425) and Scotland (SC047557) as well as a company limited by guarantee (03476510). Catch Up is a registered trademark.
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