Meet the staff at Eleanor Palmer! School Council asked them all some critical questions! Click on each photo for a selection of their replies.

Lacey Cousins
Acting Deputy and SENDCO
Meet the staff at Eleanor Palmer! School Council asked them all some critical questions! Click on each photo for a selection of their replies.
Acting Deputy and SENDCO
Co-Head, SENDCO and designated LAC lead
Egg Race or X Factor?
Egg Race – I’m always so impressed with the children’s inventions.
Two desert island teaching resources?
Number fans and playing cards
Favourite number?
7. My daughter was born at 7:17!
Favourite Children’s Book?
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
Co-Head and Specialist Leader of Education (Maths)
What is your favourite children’s book?
Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis
Deputy Head
My favourite children’s book?
Mr Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown, a joy-filled book that always makes me laugh. All about the freedom of going wild and not being afraid to stand out!
My favourite place in the school?
One of our lovely class book corners. The perfect place to curl up with a story and be transported to another world.
Receptionist
Favourite children’s book?
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. It is a firm favourite of all my children!
Desert island teaching tool?
A huge pad of paper and pens for writing, drawing and crafts.
School Business Manager
Favourite children’s book?
Michael Rosen’s Mustard, Custard, Grumblebelly and Gravy
Desert island teaching tool?
A game of scrabble for both literacy and numeracy!
Senior Admin Officer and Admissions
Favourite childhood book?
Blackhearts in Battersea by Joan Aikten. Plots to overthrow the king, hot air balloon, wolves, stowaways and a feisty, unlikely, irrepressible heroine. What’s not to love?!
Desert island teaching tool?
A pack of playing cards. Great for cognitive and social development, relaxation and fun…and 52 cards just enough to layout a HELP message on the beach.
School-keeper
What would you have been if you hadn’t been a school keeper?
A builder
Favourite place in the school?
My house next door!
Island or Tower?
Island – such a great play area.
Year 6 Teacher
What is your favourite children’s book? Shadow Forest by Matt Haig
What would be your desert island teaching tool? Bar models in maths!
SEND Teaching Assistant
What would be your desert island teaching tool?
A pack of playing cards.
What is your favourite book?
The Beano!
Year 5 Teacher
Favourite childhood book? Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Desert island teaching tool? Two dice (I can always use shells as counters and draw a game in the sand!)
Year 3 Teacher
Chocolate or cheese? That is a tough question, as much as I love chocolate I don’t think I could live without pizza so it has to be cheese!
What is your dream half term destination? Depends if its winter or summer but I love travelling either way. During the winter a good mountain to ski otherwise sunshine, a sense of adventure and local food then I’d be very happy!
Favourite place in the school? The entrance – its so inviting but also tranquil, it always makes me smile when I walk through.
Year 4 Teacher
What is your favourite childhood book?
It has got to be Fantastic Mr Fox, I always LOVED the descriptions of the food!
What would be your desert island teaching tool?
I think an ipad with solar panels to charge it would be fantastic!
SEND Teaching Assistant Year 5
X factor or egg race?
Year 3 Teacher
What is your favourite children’s book?
It has to be Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl, because I like the spirit of adventure and the relationship between father and son.
What is your desert island teaching tool?
A compass, so that we could explore the island and find our base again!
Teaching Assistant Year 3
Egg Race or X Factor?
X Factor! I love watching the performances
Times Tables or handwriting?
Handwriting
What would you have been if you hadn’t become a teaching assistant?
I would have been an explorer – I love travel!
SEND Teaching Assistant Year 3
My favourite children’s book is Little Rabbit Foo Foo by Michael Rosen.
My desert island teaching tool would be Play-doh. So good for allowing children to express thoughts, emotions and feelings without words.
Teaching Assistant Year 6
Times Tables or Handwriting?
Times tables – I love maths!
Dream half term destination?
Barbados
Two desert island teaching resources?
Ipad and coloured pens
Teaching Assistant
Favourite place in the school?
Handwriting or times tables?
Chocolate or cheese?
Intervention Teaching Assistant
Year 2 Teacher
Teaching Assistant Year 2
Chocolate or cheese? Definitely chocolate, I love it!
Favourite book? It’s hard to choose just one, but my favourite book when I was younger was Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine.
My dream half term holiday destination? Fiji, I’ve always wanted to go there!
Infant LSA
Favourite childhood book?
It has to be anything written by Roald Dahl, but it’s probably between James and the Giant Peach & George’s Marvelous Medicine!
Desert Island teaching tool?
Numicon. For early years especially these would be a great and fun way to learn.
Lunchtime supervisor
SEND Teaching Assistant EY and KS1
What would you take as a desert island teaching resource?
Lots of chalk, so I could keep myself entertained by drawing on rocks
What is your favourite children’s book?
The Bear Under the Stairs by Helen Cooper
Year 1 Teacher
What is your favourite children’s book?
Harry Potter! More specifically, The Prisoner of Azkaban & The Order of Phoenix.
What would be your desert island teaching tool?
A whiteboard and whiteboard pen because you can use it anywhere!
SEND Early Reading and Literacy Interventions Lead
Favourite Place in the school?
The Little Room
Favourite Children’s Book?
Would You Rather by John Burningham… or Charlotte’s Web (am I allowed two?)
Dream half term destination?
The Caribbean
Nursery Nurse
My favourite children’s book is We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
My desert island teaching tool would be a pack of playing cards.
Nursery Nurse
Teaching Assistant and Lunchtime Supervisor
What is your favourite children’s book? I love all classical story books, but one of my latest read I liked is Planet Omar by Zanib Mian
What would you take to a desert island as a teaching resource? I’d take a pen and paper.
Teaching Assistant
Favourite children’s book?
You Choose? Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt
Desert island teaching tool?
Blackboard and chalks.
Reception Teacher
What was your favourite childrens’book?
The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord.
What is your desert island teaching tool?
A counting stick.
Nursery Nurse
My favourite children’s book is Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
My desert island teaching tool would be Numicon – colourful, visual and fun way to learn early numbers!
Nursery Teacher
What was your favourite childhood book?
My favourite book as a child was Goodnight Mr Tom. I read it, then reread it over and over!
What teaching tool would you take to a desert island?
My favourite desert island teaching tool would be a pen and a pad of paper – writing, drawing, sketching plans for rafts to escape…
Apprentice Sports Coach
What was your favourite childhood book?
Matilda by Roald Dahl.
What would be your desert island teaching tools?
A football and a frisbee.
Apprentice Sports Coach
Specialist Sports Coach
Island or Tower?
Tower, as there are more places to hide for Tag!!!
Chocolate or Cheese?
Cheese
What would you have done if you hadn’t become a sports coach in schools?
Hopefully play for Arsenal FC
Favourite place in the school?
Inside the hall on a bench watching Yr6 do the Bleep Test… hahaha
Music teacher
Chocolate or Cheese?
Chocolate of course
Two desert island teaching resources?
A piano and a violin
Favourite place in the school?
The Music Room, naturally
Art teacher
My favourite children’s book is Paddington by Michael Bond.
My desert island teacher tool has to be paintbrushes of course!
Our school lunches are provided by an excellent company called Caterlink. Food is cooked on the premises every day and children are offered a meat or vegetarian option along with bread and a salad bar.
Our after school Playcentre, open until 6pm, is run by our teaching assistants. We create a lovely after school club with creative and sports opportunities. The children eat a healthy snack together.
There are places for up to 30 children from aged 4 upwards.