The School Support Staff and Specialist Teachers

Madeline Paterson

Music Subject Leader

The Spring Concert doesn’t run itself... the children of Combe Down don’t win the Mid-Somerset Festival by accident. The peripatetic music teachers have to be organised by somebody. And who is that person? Madeline Paterson, Music Leader at Combe Down.

Waving her magical, musical wand, Madeline has taught beats, rhythms and tunes to pupils of all ages and orchestrated many musical shows and extravaganzas. When she is not teaching music, Madeline covers other teachers’ PPA time.

Mrs Hayley Ashton

Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

Mrs Ashton has taken on the role of SENCo, dealing specifically with all children who have special educational needs. Prior to this, she taught in various year groups, including Year 1 and Year 4.

To relax, Mrs Ashton enjoys going on day trips with her family, as well as swimming and the odd cycle ride, although she has never forgotten the time, as a child, when she overtook someone on the cycle track and knocked them all down like ninepins!

Mrs Jo Bleakley

Speech and Language Support

After spells of wanting to be a ballerina, thinking of going to drama school to get onto the stage, and even itching to swim the Channel, Mrs Bleakley plumped for being a teacher like her mum. Based in the Rainbow Room, she works with children across the school supporting their speech and language development.

There is another side to Mrs Bleakley; she enjoys family time with her children, baking them yummy cakes and biscuits, and then relaxing with a good book at the end of the day. Sounds like a good work-life balance...

Mrs Tracey Smith

Higher Level Teaching Assistant

In previous years Tracey was a Teaching Assistant with one class,
but as a qualified Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) she moves
around the school allowing the teachers to have time away from class
on subject release or to do their planning.

Tracey is no stranger to the spotlight and has had a number of
appearances on TV - one with Bruce Forsyth on ‘Play Your Cards Right’
and also as a contestant on Chain Letters! She’s also been an extra in
the film ‘My Uncle Silas’ starring Albert Finney - no wonder she harbours
a secret desire to be a famous actress with pots of money and a huge house.

On the more serious side, Mrs Smith has an NVQ 3, three children
and a cat called Tom. As a family they love holidaying in Turkey and
shopping in New York! She is very happy and settled here at Combe
Down Primary, which she says is a friendly place to be.

Mrs Angie Cleverly

Teaching Assistant

Mrs Cleverly is our resident expert in phonics and has an NVQ level 3.
She favours the rural, peaceful life, so, ideally, she would spend her
days happily teaching children to read and write in a rickety old
treehouse! But, as there is a slight scarcity of those quaint habitats at
Combe Down, she has to make do with the Rainbow Room, which at
least has a woodland setting.

At home she shares her life with one husband, two children, a dog and
an ancient guinea pig. She also zips around the village in her yellow
sports car.