Sarah, nanny in Sheffield

About me
I have supported children and young people in many different settings over the past 10 years that I have been qualified in childcare. I have met challenges in many areas especially when it comes to supporting pupils with additional needs. At university I undertook a degree in disability and early childhood studies. Within my studies I learnt how to supervise and provide appropriate support for pupils of all abilities. I learnt how to be inclusive of all abilities. To me it is important to provide all pupils with support and it doesn’t matter what their ability is. I believe all children and young people learn at different rates and all develop in their own way. The most important thing that I have learnt from my time of working in nurseries, creche’s, playgroups, secondary school and supporting a young person in their own home is that the early years of life are most important. The early years set us up for life and if the right support is not given to begin with then the young person may struggle as they grow older and go to secondary school. In my days of being a teaching assistant in the secondary school, I met a pupil that attended the school with no levels from his SATS in year 6. He found school challenging and also had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and was on medication. I remember working alongside this young man on different occasions to give him a chance in life. It was challenging but by the end of year 8 he had achieved level 2. This may not sound a lot to many people but to me and him it was a great achievement. Using resources available I was able to support him on his educational journey and get him to achievements by the end of my time working with him.
Allowing children to be challenged helps promote self-esteem and independence because it gives them a sense of achievement once they have achieved it but also supporting them during difficulties, showing them that they can bounce back if challenges occur. It also helps show them that you are supportive of them and remaining positive helps them to remain positive. Ofsted look out for us promoting positive but challenging environments, they like to see what outstanding support is provided for the pupils to enhance their learning and development and to keep on pushing them to keep achieving higher and higher.
In my current job I support the other nursery practitioners and they support me in our daily focus and weekly focus for all our children. As a keyworker I ensure I observe, assess and plan for my children I look after on a daily basis. In addition to this I help to maintain the classroom in which I work in to a high standard ensuring everything is tidy and it is inviting for the children. Displays are changed for every topic we do. We do a different topic each month so on a monthly basis, displays are changed. Each display contains the children’s work, the children’s voice, the early years foundation stage links and the characteristics of effective learning.
In our nursery we use the EYlog system to assess children’s development. We accurately record observations on the children. I usually do one spontaneous observation on each child a week and one focus. I tend to get more than this. Each term we set next steps for each child and ensure that we gain observations to help the children to obtain these next steps as well as teaching them. As I Nanny I would still track the development of your children in compliance to the EYFS framework. I will on a weekly basis plan fun exciting activities to enhance the learning and development of your children. In addition to this I will take the children to activities that may be on in children centres and play centres to encourage interaction with other children and to encourage physical education.

What fun things do I like to do?
One of my favourite things to do is to cook and bake. I have a love for cooking and can provide your children with healthy balanced meals to encourage their taste buds to enjoy a balanced diet. I also enjoy baking which can be done with the children to encourage their fine manipulative skills with the mixing of the ingredients and even using their fingers to knead it if we were to make bread or biscuits.
Part of my current job I occasionally plan for a full week of activities which cover the following areas.
Painting, malleable, water, sand, mark making, language, maths, ICT, DT, Role play.
I understand that I will be looking after your children in your family home and it is not legally required to be Ofsted registered as a Nanny but I will provide your children with fun exciting activities that are educational but still making sure that they have fun.
I enjoy swimming, going for walks in the park, shopping, visiting people. I also enjoy reading and just having lots of fun.