A Day In The Life

Welcome to a day in the Life of a Junior Jam Staff Member!

Most people’s typical workday involves getting up, making a coffee, and heading out to the office, whereas no two days are the same being a Junior Jam Staff Member.

When you become a member of staff with Junior Jam you are appointed as a Subject Workshop Leader for your specialist field, this could be Music, Media, MFL, Sports, Dance, Drama; all these subjects require different equipment and resources, which will be the first thing that comes with you as you step out of the door ready to head to school! From our Sports coaches being allocated various different sports bags, including Basketball and Cricket to our Music Instructors being given a variety of instruments, including African Drums & Keyboards. The equipment our instructors use, gives the students a unique learning experience, with some of these resources not being available to them previously and further enhancing their learning from a more kinaesthetic approach.

As you check your timetable, you will be able to see your Daily timings and schools for the day, which you are assigned to upon confirmation of your role with us. Your schools are yours for the academic year, giving all staff members the opportunity to create a wonderful rapport with their classes, whom they will most likely see every week for a whole academic year.

Once your Junior Jam Uniform is on and your timetable has been checked, you are out the door ready to begin your day! Arriving at school 15 minutes or more before your start time, you will be able to prepare your classroom/ learning space and set up your lesson before your students arrive in the space assigned to you on your school day timetable. This gives you the opportunity to be prepared well in advance of your year groups arriving for their lesson, ensuring that the classes are ready to receive excellent tuition, whilst their class teachers rest assured their class is learning whilst they have adequate PPA time.

Some schools have a designated classroom that you will remain in all day, some have set classrooms for specific year groups, or some even have subject specific learning areas, for example our sports instructors sometimes have access to outside courts/sports areas through the summer months or sports halls throughout the winter months and some of our music instructors have designated music rooms for their lessons. This will all be communicated to you through the school, so you know exactly where you are meant to be at all times.

After a full morning of learning, you will go onto your lunch break, which is to do with what you choose. This could be a great time to get to know staff at the school in the staff room or indeed a solo break in order to reset for the afternoon ahead. Break times are always a great way to get ahead of the day, for example using this time within school to fill in relevant session forms relating to the pupils progress or even getting ahead of any reporting & assessing, or course evaluation catch ups if you happen to find yourself at the end of a term. Once lunchtime comes around, this is when some of our staff return home, as they only teach for the morning or alternatively some staff will be just arriving for their day, as they teach exclusively in the afternoons; this highlights the real variety of timetable undertaken by our staff.

Once Afternoon learning has ceased, so has the school/work day for the majority of staff, however some staff have the extra opportunity to run an after-school club, which can be adding to the content learnt throughout the day or indeed we have some staff who exclusively teach after school clubs!

And there you have it! A full glimpse into the life of a Junior Jam Staff Member. Just like the days, no two staff members are the same. All have different schools, schedules and students, making for a vastly unique job experience; making everyday full of interest, intent and impact!