Dinner ladies have taste for being teaching assistants

A group of dinner ladies in Derby have taken the first step on the path to becoming fully qualified teaching assistants.

The ladies - referred to as midday supervisors - from Reigate Primary School have become the first in Derby to take the level two qualification for support staff, reports the Derby Telegraph.

After ten months of learning about school functions and working with children, the group were awarded course certificates but there is still a long way to go before they are full teacher assistants.

Level three of the course starts in September.

Supervisor Karen Anderson, who has already done some classroom work as part of the course, told the newspaper how pleased she was to learn new skills: "I never thought when I came here that I would be able to progress in my job in this way.

"I thought I would remain as a midday supervisor and not have the chance to become a teaching assistant."

Ofsted praise the head teacher and staff at the school for leadership and hard work following its last report in 2004.

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