It is with honour that I have been asked to write about Amanda as she retires from West Buckland School after 10 years here. 

All of us within the department will miss her enormously as she has built a very warm, friendly and focused environment centred on the Potbury.

Turning back the clock, Amanda first joined us as a Learning Support Assistant after a highly successful teaching career in London.  After one year with us as an LSA, she glided smoothly into the role of Head of Learning Support where she used her many strengths to get the department where it is today.  

Her passion for supporting those pupils on the LS register is formidable and she will leave no stone unturned in the search to get the best out of a pupil.  Her ability to listen and then to reach the core of a pupil’s problem is amazing and the fact that so many pupils come searching for her and are welcomed with a warm smile, makes them feel at ease and able to easily open up about any educational issues they are facing.  Amanda’s ‘open door policy’ has further added to her accessibility that has encouraged us, as staff, to discuss new ideas, initiatives and obstacles that we might be encountering.

Her compassion and caring nature for pupils and her staff have made it a pleasure for all of us to work for her.  Alongside this Amanda was also appointed Exams Officer for a number of years, a job that was incredibly time consuming, but one she carried out selflessly and with consummate professionalism .


For us, in the Potbury, we will miss the laughs and the ‘giggles’ that have been very much part of the day.  A good laugh is so therapeutic and we have had so many.  We will greatly miss you but know that you have some great plans on how to spend your newfound time; travelling with Steve being one of them – it sounds so exciting. 

For me I have found a true friend, one that I will miss seeing daily and ‘chewing over the cud’ with, but it is a friendship that will last.  Everyone at WBS will miss you but wish you every happiness and enjoyment of the years ahead.    

Abi Platts-Martin