Fenland teaching assistant celebrates 30 years' service

A Fenland school has thanked one of its longest serving members of staff, who has helped educate thousands of children including some who are now teachers.

Peckover Primary School in Wisbech celebrated Debbie Wate's 30 years of service as a teaching assistant with a special online assembly, cake and a bottle of Champagne.

Debbie joined the school on October 1 1990 and has seen her role develop massively over the following three decades.

She described her colleagues as like a second family and said: "I have worked in practically every class in the school since I started. I spent a lot of time working one to one with a little boy who had global developmental delay and ADHD.

"I have also had a couple of years working out of the classroom doing focused intervention work. Most of my time has been working in Key Stage 1. When I became a higher level teaching assistant I did lots of cover work throughout the school and over the last five or six years I have been based in Year 2.

"I have been on quite a lot of amazing residentials, mainly with Year 6 children. They were tremendous fun, hugely hard work and made you very sleep deprived.

"Probably the highlight has been the staff that I have worked with. They have all been absolutely wonderful. You don’t stay in the job for 30 years if you don’t get on with people so I have been really blessed with some amazing people.

"I have had fantastic leadership and really supportive staff that I have worked with that I have benefited hugely from. I can’t believe it has been 30 years, although it is quite scary because I remember some of our present teachers being children at school.

"I have been so fortunate to be on so many different training and behaviour courses and have been really well supported in my career. My colleagues are like an extended family. They have given me lots of love and support as well as to the children that we look after and that is why we are such a successful school because we are so caring. We see children as individuals and want the best for them.

Principal Carrie Norman said: "Debbie is a key part of the school. She is our first higher level teaching assistant and does a lot of teaching as well. She has been on the Governing Body for over 10 years and always goes the extra mile.

"She is really driven and absolutely committed to getting the best from the children. She is a great team player and very encouraging to her colleagues. Debbie is like a stick of rock, she has got Peckover running all the way through her."

Ms Norman conducted a special assembly to mark Debbie's career landmark which was beamed into classrooms so all the children could share the celebrations.

The assembly not only included a special cake but also lots of photographs of Debbie down the years.