Nursery practitioner Review

I am a nursery practitioner and key worker to my own group of key children. I am responsible for the safeguarding of all the children in my care, changing nappies, observing them weekly in line with the EYFS, ensuring they eat healthy meals and participate in health and care routines. I also aim to create good relationships with the parents to ensure the best outcome for the child’s development.

I’ve been able to develop on my confidence on my own practice by completing a lot of reflection. I have also grown in my communication skills as I have had more experience talking to my key children’s parents. During covid we have had to split into bubbles which also helped me to build my team work skills and I was able to communicate my ideas and create cosy, natural ideas for the toddler room.

I enjoyed my programme and felt that I was able to learn a lot of new knowledge which helped me develop my own practice. The webinars offered me a lot of information and were very supportive in my knowledge development.

I felt that I struggled with the organisation on my programme, especially during Covid. I didn’t always feel supported by my assessor during these times and felt that I wasn’t always guided on what I should be doing to further my development in my apprenticeship. However, it was good that I was able to continue my apprenticeship as best as I could during the pandemic.

My employers are very supportive. They always ask if there is anything they can do to support me in my apprenticeship. They always ask how my meetings went and allow me time out of the room when I ask and when it is quiet enough for me to do so.

Towards the start of my apprenticeship I felt very supported and was very confident in what I needed to do for my level 3. However, during the pandemic I didn’t feel as supported. Towards the end I felt that I didn’t speak to my assessor as much as I did at the start and I had to contact her when I had any questions. I didn’t feel very supported and started to feel very stressed towards the end.

It allowed me to understand a variety of different approaches to my job, take time to reflect on my own practice and feel more confident in the safeguarding procedures and what I do as a practitioner to ensure the children are provided with the best possible start in life.

No. However, sometimes there are courses which you can take through the nursery where you travel outside of work. This allows you to meet with other practitioners and learn about a certain subject in more detail.

Yes

It provides a lot of great resources to learn from and provides you with skills which will allow you to do your best in your job. It also provides you with skills that you can take with you into your future careers.

Ensure you have enough spare time to complete the coursework and are willing to learn about a variety of views and opinions.