Jessica Stephens

• Worked with and supported students between the ages of 7 & 21 yrs old who had a range of physical, learning and mental disabilities.
• Helped struggling students with problem areas to build confidence.
• Prepared materials for hands-on learning activities and demonstrations.
• Helped maintain safe, clean, and organized learning environment for all students.
• Supervised students during class time, breaks, and field trips.

While working in this position, the skills I learnt were: Compassion. Patience. Flexibility. How to work with challenging behaviour. The importance of creating relationships.

It was through working as a Teachers Aide , that I found my passion of Teaching and only resigned from my fulltime position to a relieving position so that I could pursue my Teaching Degree at The University of Waikato.

• Supported children who have physical disabilities and high needs with personal cares and social interaction.
• Assisted patients by providing dignified personal care.
• Supported patients to continue participating in daily living activities.
• Helped patients move safely in and out of beds and wheelchairs.
• Performed basic housekeeping tasks for safe living environment.
• Established positive routines to support mental wellbeing.
• Responded calmly during emergencies, following established protocols while prioritizing client safety.
• Encouraged independence while providing appropriate levels of assistance based on individual capabilities.

• Worked at Taylor's Laundry in Hamilton as a Flat work Operator.
• Taylor's Laundry in Hamilton were the biggest suppliers of linen to hospitals and hotel/motel throughout the Waikato region.
• During my time here at Taylor's, I learnt how to run various ironing machines and how to diagnose and fix a problem on the machine when it would arise and importance of product quality and attention to detail.

While working here, I worked in a number of areas which included :

• The Packing room This area was where we would pick and pack the linen requested by customers to fill their orders.
• Dry fold Sorting and stacking smaller items of linen to ensure that stock was always ready and available for packing room to complete their order.
• Feeding linen through ironing machines to ensure that the products are clean and of a high quality standard.

Ensuring the linen that we were supplying was stain free, wrinkle free and of top quality.