The voice of MAST – looking under the bonnet of the MAST Team

Over the past 19 years that I have been working as the main MAST administrator (originally as part of Plymouth Excellence Cluster) and so much has changed. The schools are now not only in central Plymouth, but in outlying areas and our Family Learning Mentors, Counsellors, Therapists and Educational Psychologists are travelling as far as Exeter and smaller Dartmoor villages.

MAST is now part of Plymouth Learning Partnership and is part of the bigger picture joining Schools Post, Supply Plus, and Property and Compliance. We are a very supportive team and since we have been based at Lower Compton Road, are a more condensed and collaborative team.

Our request forms have now been updated with our brand-new logos, and when they have been fully completed with as much information as possible and signed (handwritten) by the parent/carer, they are submitted to our weekly panel for discussion and allocation. Sometimes, more information is necessary, therefore the panel allocate a member of staff/or MAST link EP to contact the referrer to have an initial discussion before a decision can be made. The team currently run without a waiting list, but when capacity is at its’ peak, there may be a short wait for support to start, although we do try to contact the school/home as soon as we can to ease the wait.

We also cover STORM assessments when necessary, and the majority of our team are STORM trained and will prioritise these when they arise.

The job that I still enjoy doing (after all this time) is extremely varied, as the MAST package also involves a very comprehensive training package (CPD) which is advertised on our website and provides much help for a whole range of staff in school. Booking on the training can be submitted directly on the web page, via the links attached to each subject or by emailing/phoning me on the MAST number. The training is mostly delivered at our office space in Lower Compton, and we welcome meeting new school staff. Our team do also arrange bespoke packages of training at the schools’ request, which is usually delivered when they have inset days, and this comes at a small charge additional to their MAST subscription.