“I knew that this role would make positive change, and it has.”
Four years ago, Michelle became a risk assessor in the specialist transport unit, which sits in the Communities Directorate at Warwickshire County Council (WCC). Michelle had been working at a specialist school, supporting young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) when she saw the role at WCC advertised. Michelle said:
“I applied for the role because I knew I would do it well and I would enjoy it. I’ve always understood that it’s vital to get specialist transport for young people in Warwickshire right.” Her 22 years of experience working with children and young people with SEND would certainly come in handy too.
When she started in her role as Specialist Transport Risk Assessor, Michelle was the first and only one to do this role for the Council. Her work proved so valuable to the team, that four years later there are now six risk assessors in the team in total.
The specialist transport team is responsible for making travel arrangements for children and young people who need specialist help in getting from A to B. This means liaising with education providers like schools and colleges, the taxi companies doing the driving and more. They complete risk assessments for the drivers and creating a ‘travel passport’ for each individual child (of which there are around 4000) so that everyone involved in the process understands that child’s needs. This can be from where they like to be seated in the vehicle to what music calms them down before school. In her role, Michelle works closely with the Parent and Carer forum to look at ways to improve communication between the various groups. Michelle said: “We get these lovely emails from parents or carers saying how they feel listened to and understood which makes what I do all worthwhile”.
In her spare time, Michelle loves walking her dog, Daisy.
Michelle’s day to day job involves a variety of tasks. She added: “I can be completing risk assessments one minute and then dealing with a reactive situation the next. I could be visiting educational provisions to working with our depot supervisors, securing specialist equipment, travelling on transport routes to gain an in depth understanding of young people's needs.”In particular, Michelle loves going out to the schools and colleges, doing spot checks on the drivers, passenger assistants and vehicles. The education providers are always welcoming and “seeing the smiles on the faces of children you have helped makes it very rewarding. You think, I did that.” Another reason Michelle loves working for WCC is the flexible and agile working. She is predominantly home based, which suits her well. She lives 10 minutes away from one of the schools she works closely with so can be there quickly if needed.
Michelle enjoys working at the Council, and one of the reasons for that is because of the learning and development opportunities available. Michelle said: “The variety of training courses available to you is like none other! The Council has a fantastic support structure and benefits system, they are a very inclusive employer and they take staff wellbeing seriously.”