Kane Thomas

My name is Kane Thomas, and I am in my third year as a qualified teacher. I currently teach a mixed, Upper Foundation Phase class. Throughout my time as a new teacher, I was able to attend various schools as a supply teacher for around 3 months until I secured a job at Glais Primary School, where I have now been for around 2 and a half years. I aspire to become a highly skilled practitioner within Foundation Phase and have recently been appointed as the Foundation Phase lead of the school, which is a privilege for such a new teacher like myself.

I am extremely passionate about sport, health, and well-being; with a main focus placed on rugby. This suits my role within the school, as the Health and Well-being lead. Both these roles encompass a wide variety of duties, which I am working towards becoming proficient in. Glais Primary School is the first small, rural school I have worked in, but in such a short time, I have realized how much of an impact you have over the pupils who attend such a small, isolated school.

As a pupil, I attended both a Catholic primary school and Catholic comprehensive school which were far different to Glais. I have found that within a small, rural school, the dynamics between staff and parents appear very different to schools I have experienced in the past. There are lots of siblings throughout the school, across a range of classes. Parents appear to have a closer relationship with staff. Teachers also generally have a wider knowledge of the pupils across the whole school as you can be from one end to the other in 5 seconds. The relationship between staff is much more close-knit, as you are with the same small group of people all day every day as opposed to a large school where you may only see your classroom staff in a day. I currently live in the city center, which is far removed from a rural location like Glais. This means that to engage in place-based learning and educate the pupils on the history of the local area, I have had to familiarize myself with it, and educate myself to build up the knowledge to teach others.