“For me, the best thing about the job is seeing the progress of our members and knowing you are making a difference to those children’s lives.”

I started in January this year, so it’s coming up for 6 months now, which is crazy! It has been so much fun, so perhaps that is why the time has flown! I love it. It’s so nice seeing the progress and watching the members having fun. We see such personal growth and even in such a short time, I can see the difference in how some of the members face challenges and can see them doing so more fearlessly now.

I was looking on Indeed for jobs. When I saw this role, I went onto the website and applied quickly. I was interviews by Charley the Trustee and Laura, the Operations Manager. It felt like a nice, friendly vibe as soon as I met them.  I then started the first week of term in January.

Until recently, I was covering some 1-2-1 work with a boy who wasn’t in mainstream schooling, as well as doing some cover teaching assistant work. Now, I am looking to see what else I can do and am looking to learn some new skills alongside my work at Keynsham Mencap. I graduated last year from the University of Bath.  I was at Bath for 3 years doing Education with Psychology. It was good to have the mix of the two and opens up a lot of opportunities.

I am from Longwell Green, but a lot of my family are in Keynsham so I know it well and am here quite a lot, even without work.  I used to work with Bath Area Play Project over the summer holidays and do playschemes as a playworker. Finding this job as SENSations leader was a new opportunity to use those skills and as a weekly thing was just perfect. When I saw this, I knew it was something I wanted to go into.

I love photography. I like going out and capturing things. I am particularly interested in nature photography. I also like going on walks with friends and family. I feel like we have a lot of nice places close by to enjoy. I’m currently doing driving lessons too and look forward to when I can drive properly. There is a massive backlog since covid for tests however!

I really enjoy working with Keynsham Mencap.  We are all here to make a difference. It’s a real community.  For me, the best thing about the job is seeing the progress of our members and knowing you are making a difference to those children’s lives. It is meaningful; it’s a rewarding feeling.  The team is amazing too – all the volunteers are amazing. Without them we couldn’t run the clubs. I think they do a lot more than they realise!