Rhiannon, registered childminder in El fondo de les neus/hondon de las nieves 03688

My name is Rhiannon I am an ambitious and passionate Teesside University graduate with significant experience in Psychology and Education studies. At sixteen I was fortunate to find myself in a role working for a large company known as the ‘Wacky Warehouse’ as a play assistant with a varying number of responsibilities. At 17 I had the opportunity to work abroad in Dubai for the summer as a Teaching Assistant within ‘British Orchard’ nursery school. When I was 18 I worked for ‘Morrison’s’, a large supermarket chain for three years. I gained numerous skills throughout these roles which are relevant to the future course of my career.

My experience within the practical module of my BTEC within this sector includes working with:

• Babies at ‘Playday’s’ day Nursery, Newton Aycliffe. Within this placement I worked with babies from 6 weeks-18 months.
• Toddlers at ‘House of Eden’ Day Nursery, Rushyford. This placement required me to work with toddlers aged 18 months-3 years.
• Foundation stage at ‘Dodmire’ Primary School, Darlington. This position required me to activity plan using indoor and outdoor activities.
• Key stage one at ‘Dodmire’ Primary School, Darlington. This position required me to support children who needed extra help within the education settings; including a child with Downs Syndrome, those with emotional behavioural difficulties and those who were school years behind their actual age.
• Additional needs at ‘Abbey Road’ Primary School, Darlington. Within this position I worked closely with a young girl in ks1 who had hypo genesis of the corpus callosum which meant that she needed extra support in all aspects. I was also the only means of support for the other children in the class and kept my attentions varied throughout the classroom.
In my most recent role I have worked within a nursery caring for 0-8 year olds; mainly 2-5 year olds. Within this role I have planned a vast number of educationally fun activities which aim to promote all the differing needs of the children. Working closely with other staff members I have aimed to ensure all the needs of the children have been met to a high standard. I have worked with children that are unable to speak English. I have also worked one to one with an autistic child and a deaf child ensuring the activities on offer are also beneficial to them. During the holidays I have also worked within ‘short breaks’ which is care for a group of autistic children with varying degrees of the condition. Working with children with ASD it is clear they have different needs; you have to ensure the children understand the rules of the classroom and the daily routines have to be very precise to ensure their day is as least distressing as possible. A great amount of encouragement is to be given within the social aspect of care. Promoting sharing and helping others is vital.

In my spare time I am involved in voluntary work for an organisation called ‘Unite’ working closely with their anger management team. ‘Unite’ is a voluntary mediation organisation who also works closely with children who need anger management training. I also have relevent, recent voluntary experience within a sure start run nursery school.

Furthermore I have also cared for two young children on a regular basis from birth, who are now aged seven and nine, planning and carrying out many educationally fun activities. Over the past few years I have also cared for a teenage boy who has klinefelter’s syndrome and moderate learning difficulties.

My work and education has aided in developing my interpersonal skills and my aptitude to enable me to relate to a diverse and broad based sector of the community. I am extremely patient and have excellent communication skills and my warmth and enthusiasm enables me to empathise well with others.

I feel I could bring many skills to this environment, such as good communication skills which is fundamental when working with children, a good understanding of cultural differences and the importance of cultural awareness within education, responsibility, consistency and fairness. My passion is to ensure all children have the opportunity to fulfil their educational, emotional and social capacity and overall potential, therefore I feel this environment would provide me with the foundations in order to become an important role model for all children in my care.