First day overview

i thought i best update has i have officially started my course. Wednesday was my first day and of course it had to be a rather wet and miserable day so hoping future days at uni will not be like that.

My first day involved getting the 6:24am train to make sure i got to uni for 9am start and i don’t think i will EVER get used to a start like that when it is only 1 day a week during term time. My course has 20 people on it at the moment unless there were a few missing on the first day. We had a short tour of the campus and introduction to the online system for the library. I managed to find some time to have a look at part of the library, well the section that has childrens books, resources and story sacks which will come in handy for my small group work within my setting. In the afternoon we had an introduction into the course and some of what is expected of us during the next year. The amount of work required for the year seems huge when working full time. During the year we have to complete a 10 day placement in another setting( setting chosen by the university) where we will be observed by a member of staff at the university. I believe the setting will be with the under 2’s as they are not currently within the setting i work at at the moment. The other 10 day placement is just an observational placement within keystage 1. i am sure it will all fall into place and not cause too much chaos at my work.

We haven’t been fully introduced to what evidence we need to provide against the standards we have to meet but there are 37 different points to the early years teacher standards and from what i gathered from Wednesday we may have to provide evidence for the 3 different age groups. We have to complete 3 different portfolios- setting experience portfolio, professional development portfolio and reflective learning portfolio. All that on top of 2 post grad modules. It feels overwhelming at the moment because of lack of knowledge of what is expected and hopefully the feeling of dread will ease as the weeks go on.

I apologise that this is a bit jumbled, i feel more tired than usual after a busy week at work.I will try to update this again on thursday after a decent nigh sleep on wednesday night.

Introduction

I thought it would be best to start of this blog with a bit of an introduction.

My name is Jane and i currently work with disabled children and young people from 2-19 years of age and have worked within the same company for the past 6 and half years. I didn’t imagine falling into this type of job when i was a teenager but as part of my degree i had to do 10 days work experience in a job which i would like to have once completing my degree and i just didn’t leave after completing my degree. My degree in 3D design with a specialism in glass is not hugely related to childcare but I’ve found my creative side a huge benefit with working within the early years sector.Working with disabled children and young people has had such a positive impact on my life and i am thankful of the opportunities that i have experienced through this line of work. My main passion within the sector is working with pre school age children and the past 5 years of working with the age group has driven me to become the best practitioner that i can become.

I applied to do my Early Years Teacher course in Feb and had my interview 16 weeks ago ( only feels like last month) and since having my place secured after completing the skills tests my mind has been consumed of getting everything ready for the start date. I am doing the employment based route where i get to stay within my own workplace to complete the course with one day a week at Kingston and i have to complete a 10 day placement at another nursery and 10 days at KS1. There is so little around about the course as a whole as it is a fairly new course within early years so i thought if i wrote a blog it may help other people looking at doing the course or waiting to start . The prospect of working full time alongside the course is a bit daunting but I have learnt from my mistakes of my degree and I am getting stuff ready for the start of the course in just over 3 weeks time.

I didn’t imagine buying stationery would be so enjoyable but i cannot stop myself. This photo is my latest haul of goodies

• 28 Sharpies- Tesco £7
• 30 fineliners- WHSmith £5.99
• Animal page labels – WHSmith 99p
• zip organiser – WHSmith £5.99
• 2x 50 sheets coloured paper and 3x 25 sheets coloured card – Lidl £1.99 – a pack
• clips, plastic wallets and pens – Poundland

Hopefully i will keep this blog up to date of my journey within my work and the course over the next 12 months