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Photo by Courteney Yardley

Interview with Mr Russell

Kayden O'Connor —

  • Do you like looking after all the teacher aides and if so why? Yes, I really enjoy working alongside the teacher aides. They do a lot of good important work here and I love seeing this.

  • How many teacher aides do we have here at Casebrook? We have 8 teacher aides at Casebrook. Some work here full time and some work part time.

  • What hours do you work at Casebrook and what is your job? I work full time at Casebrook. Some Learning Support Coordinators work at more than one school but because Casebrook has a certain amount of students then I get to work here the whole time. My job is to look after the learning support side of things, the wellbeing of the students and also little things like attendance and the PTA.

  • How many new teacher aides are there? We have had two new teacher aides start with us in 2022.

  • How long do you spend with students each week? I like the idea that I am available to students when they need me. Sadly that can’t be the whole time. I would say I would be with students 2-3 hours a day.

  • Do you do school work with the kids? I don’t do any school work with the students but I do get to coordinate the students to do extra work. Every time a student does a test that information comes to me and then I can see who needs extra support. Normally when I am with a student it is because something is'nt going right for them and I will do my best to coach them through that and work out solutions.

  • How long have you been doing this for? I have been at Casebrook for 12 years but went into this role back in 2015.
  • What is your favourite thing to do with the kids? Well as everyone knows I do enjoy getting outside at lunch and playing basketball but I like working with the students when they are upset as it’s a nice feeling when they solve that.
  • Where is the new teacher aide room? The new teacher aide room is next to Room 16. A lot of work went into that room and it looks great. You should go check it out.