Nursery Practitioner Review

In the morning, I arrive at my setting early to set up the room with activities as well as rearranging the tables and chairs as the room was cleaned the previous evening. I also arrange the garden by setting up activities there. Afterwards I complete risk assessment checks for the garden, bathroom and the room itself to ensure there are no sharp objects, bins have been emptied, no spillages and I also check to see if anything needs to be restocked such as; hand paper towels, soap dispensers, toilet paper and any PPE. Once the checks have been completed, I then check the tablet to see how charged it is and if needed place on charge. If I have some extra time then I will clean some toys if not then I will come in earlier the following day to do so. Once the children arrive into the room, the breakfast trolley is ready and I sit with the children (wearing PPE and making sure their dietary cards are at their seats) whilst they have their breakfast as well as talking about which parent might pick them up, what they are going to do after nursery etc. Whilst children are eating breakfast, I write down what they have eaten on the daily sheet and after breakfast I clean the table, sweep the floor and put dietary cards away. I then join the children in an activity they have taken an interest to. The children always take an interest in messy play so I like to set up messy play activities on the tuff tray to encourage children to explore a new texture. When another practitioner arrives, I am then able to log the daily sheet information onto the tablet for parents to see and then mark that I have done so on the daily sheet. I then check nappies of the children and if needed (keeping in ratio), change them and log it onto the daily sheet and then the tablet when possible. I encourage children to try a different activity or participate in a group activity to develop their social interactions. I take a variety of photos which are used for observations and/or news feed at the end of the week (some children are not allowed in the news feed and therefore their photo will not be used). I do the observations for my key children that are in on that day as well as observations for another practitioner to help out. After interacting with the children on various activities, I then ask the other practitioner to support children to wash their hands for snack time. I place dietary cards down ready for children to find their seat and then collect my PPE and serve the snack to the children along with either a cup of water/milk/oat milk (depending on dietary requirements). Whilst sitting down with the children and assisting another to eat, I talk a variety of topics with the children and encourage them to eat the healthy snack while the other practitioner is writing down what each child has eaten on the daily sheet. Once snack is finished, children are encouraged to place their plate and cup onto the trolley and then they can explore further activities or toys. I remove my PPE and check children's nappies and change them if needed and then write it down on the daily sheet. Whilst changing a nappy, if a parent of a child is toilet training them, I encourage the child to at least sit on the toilet so that they are familiar with the use of a toilet as well as encouraging them to do everything else (flushing, wiping, washing hands etc). After changing nappies, I then log everything onto the tablet (snacks and nappy changes/toilet visits) whilst also interacting with children playing with toys. Children are encouraged to go into the garden to have outdoor play which focuses on their physical development. I encourage children to rider tricycles, play in the sand box, or join in an activity that I had set up in the morning. Half an hour before lunch, children are encouraged to go back inside and take off their coats and then sit down for circle time. Circle time consists of singing songs, reading a book or having a general discussion about an event that we may be having that particular day. When dinner arrives, children are assisted in washing their hands by the other practitioner as I lay down dietary cards for the children to sit. I then put on my PPE as the children sit down and then hand out the children's dinners (checking dietary cards before I give them their dinners). I support children with eating dinners if needed whilst other practitioner writes down what each child had (we both encourage children to try/eat their dinner). After dinner, I do the children's nappies whilst the other practitioner cleans the table and floor and then interacts with the children as they play. When I finish the nappies, I write them down on the daily sheet and then prepare the beds for the children who have a nap. Once the beds are set up, children lay on their bed for a nap. I take some children who leave the setting after lunch to their parent and talk to the parent about how their child's day has been. After saying goodbye to the children, I sit down with the children who are having a nap and do regular sleep checks every 10 minutes and log it onto the tablet (when they fell sleep, every sleep check and when they wake). whilst sitting down with the napping children, the other practitioner is interacting with the other children and I log all nappies and dinners onto the tablet. I then do any observations that needed to be done for the children that are in for that day. I can do observations throughout the day and I may not always need to do them whilst children are napping. If I do not need to do any whilst the children are napping, then I interact with the children that are awake (still sitting next to the napping children and doing sleep checks) the interactions can be anything from reading a story to encouraging a child to count how many blocks it takes to build a castle. I finish every day before tea time (2pm) so I remind the other practitioner to carry on with sleep checks and if there has been any accidents then to inform parents or carry on with "bump to head" checks. Any accidents throughout the day are always reported to management when it happens so that the management can notify a parent if needed. I also check the events planning to make sure I know what activities can be done the following day and if there is anything else I need to prepare for.

I have developed further on my confidence as well as my social interaction skills. I have learnt in depth about child development and I can now set up activities for the day to begin.

I enjoy working in a team and learning new things. Throughout this programme I have still much to learn and I am excited to learn them.

My programme is very well organised by realise and I have a lot of support from them.

Some days I get a lot of support and other days I am made to feel that I should know everything. I know that I have been doing this apprenticeship for a while now but I still know that I have a lot to learn and some things I have still not completed yet. For example, a settle (welcoming a new child and collecting information on a new child using "all about me" form) at my setting, I have never done but I am made to feel as though I should know what happens within the settle even though I have not experienced one yet.

A lot of support is given and if I need to know anything, then my they are always available for help.

I am pushed to reach my goals, my training provider knows what I may be lacking in and therefore will give me tasks to improve further.

No.

Yes

The colleagues who I have interacted with are pleasant and nice to work with.

Ask for support if needed.