Amanda joined the Prison Service in 2008 working as an OSG (Operational Support) working at HMP Hewell. 

Even at that point Amanda knew where she wanted to be, and what she wanted to achieve. Her goal has always been to become a Prison Officer and help people change their lives.

In 2010, she went for her Officer assessment in Kent and achieved everything except for the English assessment. This was a bit of a knock back, but in 2015, after going on ‘detached duty’ to HMP Grendon and HMP Woodhill, she decided she would try again to achieve her goal.

This time, the outcome was different but much to her disappointment, she still hadn’t managed to achieve the marks required. She was given the option of going to HMP Holloway to get some support and resit.  

So on a Sunday morning, she drove three hours to London to gain some help and carry out a resit. This wasn’t as smooth as expected.The department didn’t know what support was needed, so ended up even more nervous, being tight on time and with the shakes she sat it again. No surprise, the result was not positive.  

Amanda felt really disappointed with herself. Though she had struggled since her school days and suspected she was dyslexic, but had no proof.  

Despite disappointment she was determined and went for another Officer assessment in July 2016, but the increasing pressure she was putting herself under, coupled with previous experiences resulted in nerves getting the better of her and she failed a role play activity.

At this point she really considered giving up, but was given the opportunity to retake the role play activities at HMP Newbold Revel. 

This is when things began to change, and with support from the staff at Newbold Revel Amanda finally passed in September 2016.

Amanda said:

The staff at Newbold Revel were amazing. I felt so relieved that I had achieved my goal and was going to start as a new POELT (Prison officer entry level training in April 2017 and would be starting the next stage of my journey to Officer. I felt really happy and proud for getting this far, despite the setbacks."

This was just what Amanda wanted, but she knew it wouldn’t be plain sailing, as she explains:

After my 5th week being here I was doing OK on my practical assessments and then had my midterm exam.  I felt so sick and nervous and only just scraped a pass.

My tutor Karen Smith sat down with me and talked about how I was struggling with my written work in the exam. I told her I thought I may be dyslexic and had struggled all through school. 

She signposted me to Brett Stringer and POA Learning. Brett arranged for me to go and see POA Learning and took me to meet them in the Learning Centre in St Peters and he introduced me to Indira and Nicky. 

My first day with Nicky was so overwhelming; she talked about all the help I could get, she gave me a warm hug, coffee and chocolate which made me relax and reduced me to tears as I felt I was now going to get help."

Amanda took the Dyslexia Screening Test and finally got proof of what she had suspected all those years – this was a huge weight off Amanda's shoulders and she felt that she didn't have to struggle anymore.

Karen Smith sat with me and developed an individual learning plan and Brett and Nicky sorted things out for me for support to achieve my final exam. 

On the day of my exam, although the nerves were still there, having somebody to scribe eased my nerves. Guess what, I passed! 

The feeling was overwhelming, after all this time I did it, I passed! On my 9th year in the job, I finally did it. If it wasn’t for what POA Learning and Brett did I wouldn't have made it.

I am now looking forward to my career as a Prison Officer and helping prisoners change their lives. For other OSG's who are struggling, I want them to know that it is achievable and there is support available."