Nursery Assistant Review

My work experience was at a children’s nursery school so the day to day tasks involved showing the kids fun, educational, simple games and tasks, ensuring that the work place was safe, engaging the children in group activities, monitoring the children on their lunchtime break and ensuring that the children were following the classroom rules and giving the correct punishment if not. During my time at the nursery the children were learning about animals so every game/ story/ piece of work followed this theme and allowed the children to be educated in different ways without them particularly realising.

I have learnt how to be more patient because all of the children have different patterns of behaviour and different attitudes to how they work, so if a child was being naughty I had to be patient in order to stay calm whilst telling them that their behaviour was unacceptable. I have also learned that one way of teaching doesn’t work for every child because every child learns differently therefore I have discovered how to adapt my teaching style based on different learning styles.

I extremely enjoyed my programme because I wanted a career in childcare and the staff were extremely helpful and provided me with some excellent information to guide me into that career pathway. The staff were also great with the leeway that they gave me, they didn’t give me extremely simple tasks that were not beneficial, they allowed me to explore my own teaching strategies in a controlled but fun environment.

During my work experience I felt extremely valued by the children that I was working with because I think they were all curious as to who the new teacher was in the room. However I also felt valued by my manager because I was treat as though I was another member of her team and not just a work experience student. For example, I was still aloud to have a say in discussions about how to improve the nursery and my ideas about the following weeks activities were taken into consideration.

My programme was not particularly well structured in the beginning because there was a lack of communication about when I was starting so I for a while I was unsure whether I actually had a placement or not. But after I took control and organised a day it was a lot better. Every single day I would walk into work and I would be told exactly what I was doing for the entire day which was extremely helpful.

I don’t receive any support from the work experience staff now because I have gone down an alternate career pathway however when I was interested in teaching they were extremely supportive. On their lunch break they would help me with my university applications and what looked like good and bad courses. They also told me ways I could get work experience in other more specialist schools which would further help with my university application.

I receive a lot of support from my employer. They are always pushing me into extra work however they also make sure that I am not too overloaded. They have an open door policy in the office which provides a lot of support because when I have an issue with anything they are always there to talk to.

At the minute my salary is not as high as I would like because I am currently spending more than I am earning, however this is mainly because I live in London and therefore my accommodation is extortionate. Additionally I have to commute to work which also adds up to be a lot of money that my salary doesn’t accommodate for.

There are many events outside of work for the staff to relax but also build as a team, for example simple events like going to a bar after work and having a chat to group paintballing and team building activities. Additionally there are many fundraising events outside of work which are great fun.

Yes

It is a great way to get into teaching and get a better understanding of a day in the life of a teacher because you see both the good and the bad sides of it. This then tests you as a person and helps you to understand whether you would be able to cope with the demands that being a teacher brings you. However it is also a very supportive placement.

I would advise someone to select a nursery in which they do not already know any other members of staff or children because then it helps you to get a real taste of what it would be like to have your own class. I would advise someone to try and sort out their work experience in advance and not be afraid to pick up the phone if you don’t hear back from them straight away because a lot of the time they are just busy running their business.