To whom it may concern,

This letter offers my complete support of Daniel Headland as he applies for a teaching position. I
highly recommend Daniel as a candidate for the position of a class teacher. As a Year 1 teacher and
the Key Stage 1 Phase Leader of Holy Family Catholic Primary School I have had the pleasure of
working with Daniel in a regular supply capacity since September 2019. He is a passionate, driven,
organised, skilled teacher who develops inspiring relationships with his students. He has demonstrated
exceptional behaviour management skills which are rooted in the creation of a foundation of mutual
respect between himself and his pupils.

Daniel has a wonderful rapport with people of all ages, especially children. His ability to connect with
his students is a true strength and it is clear that both the wellbeing and academic progress of students
is at the core of everything that he does within the classroom. Daniel has demonstrated his strong
pedagogical knowledge when covering classes within our school and his talent for teaching simple
concepts, as well as more advanced topics has always shone through in the progress made by the
children in his care.

Daniel is flexible, he adapts calmly and quickly to any changes in routine and he is a quick learner.
Throughout the course of his time spent working at Holy Family he worked in a broad range of year
groups ranging from Year R (Age 4-5) to Year 6 (Age 10-11) proving his flexibility as a teacher.
Working across a diverse range of classes he has proven that he also has excellent written and verbal
communication skills with both parents and teachers and he ensured that any class that he covered
were receiving the best instruction possible. Daniel has also worked across a number of our other
partnership schools further proving his adaptability.

While working as a regular cover teacher with us in Southampton Daniel repeatedly proved to us as a
school that he was driven to develop his skills as a teacher. He constantly sought out feedback for
improvement and is excellent when applying this to his everyday teaching. In addition to this he was
always eager to share and model examples of good practice from his experiences in Australia with our
staff. Daniel viewed every opportunity to teach a class as a learning opportunity and regularly
engaged in professional dialogue with myself and other colleagues across the school. He embraces
any opportunity for professional development, which makes him an ideal teacher candidate and future
leader.

In short, Daniel is an excellent teacher and a true professional. In addition to being able to teach
effectively in multiple year groups he also uses a variety of assessment strategies to monitor and
evaluate student learning and effectively manage classroom routines and student behaviour. He is
thoughtful, reflective, and committed to life-long learning and his continued development as a
teacher. Daniel is willing to share ideas with colleagues and take advantage of opportunities to learn
from others.

I feel confident that Daniel will make a significant contribution as a primary teacher and leader. I give
him my highest recommendation for this teacher position.

Yours sincerely,

Rachel Smith

rsmith@holyfamilylive.net