Phonics with Robot Reg Sutton Coldfield

Debra is a mum of two boys, living in Sutton Coldfield. Whilst working in retail, she volunteered as a Classroom Assistant at schools in Worcestershire and as a Play Services Volunteer at the Birmingham Childrens’ Hospital. It was during this time that she discovered a real love she has for working with and supporting children and so she retrained in 2012 at Newman University to be a Primary School Teacher. She has worked in a number of schools across the West Midlands teaching everything from Year 6 down to Reception. Debra left the classroom shortly before having her second son, moving into online teaching. In this role, she taught private one-to-one English lessons to children.

Whilst on maternity leave during lockdown, when her 3 year old expressed an interest in learning to read, she drew on her experience as a teacher and taught him phonics. She found it so rewarding to watch him learn and grow and she started to share the learning through play she does with her children on Instagram at @theplayingteacher. When she came across the opportunity to teach Phonics with Robot Reg classes she jumped at the chance knowing that it would give her the opportunity to go back into teaching whilst giving children a chance to learn through play.