Debbie, occasional childcare in Sunderland SR1

Work Related Skills/Knowledge
I have successfully completed CACHE Diploma in Childcare and Education/Nursery Nurse.

I have in depth experience of working with young children from birth to five, from volunteer work and placement’s, to working in a Children’s Centre and Nursery setting. I possess a strong belief in the importance of the early years with high quality practitioners and I sustain a good understanding that children learn through play, exploring their learning environment. I interact with children on a daily basis and support children’s individual needs. I have gained quality experience of curriculum planning and I am able to plan age and stage appropriate activities that meet the EYFS framework and the outcomes of ECM. I am able to observe, monitor, review, assess, plan, deliver, implement, organise, understand and record children’s progress whilst encouraging equal opportunities, involving parents/carers, visitors and other professionals as well as delivering and evaluating current practice.

I support the manager in maintaining and enhancing a high quality learning environment which is evident within the last outstanding OFSTED inspection. The educational activities that I plan and deliver are based on the seven areas of learning and development of the EYFS framework to promote children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. I strive to support children in the three prime areas of communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development to help build their capacity to learn and form relationships. Following this I support children in the four specific areas of literacy, maths, understanding the world and expressive art and design to which the prime areas are strengthened. These seven areas of learning are paramount and therefore I plan, implement and evaluate both adult-led, child initiated activities and play experiences for all children to meet these areas. This is to give children the best possible start in life and to ensure that they are developmentally ready to gain the knowledge, skills and understanding within the early learning goals at the end of the reception year. Through my experience I have gained the knowledge that children learn best when they are healthy, safe and secure within their learning environment and their individual needs are been met.

To ensure the safeguarding of children I have attended numerous Child Protection training courses and have gained high confidence in my own ability to deal with any child protection situations that arise. I always follow and apply the appropriate policies and procedures to my practice and ensure all staff are aware and equipped with the skills and knowledge of the Government’s statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ to actively keep all children safe.

I have gained extensive knowledge through training and hand’s on experience of working with children with medical and additional needs; these include children with Down’s syndrome, Autism, children with variable behavioural patterns and with physical needs. I have completed the Autism/Asbergers course which has equipped me with up to date knowledge of children with an autism spectrum disorder within the early years. The course provided me with the support to facilitate a child’s social communication and appropriate behaviour within their environment. I have established good practice in handling children with autism at a young age and to analyse and understand their behaviours in order to use structure and routine to pre-empt and deal with the development of certain behaviours that are seen to be inappropriate.
I have gained practical experience of caring for a child with a tracheostomy, through 1:1 support. I have gained extensive knowledge of the child’s needs and the ability to meet these needs through regular suction to keep her airway clear and emergency tracheostomy changes when needed.

Skills
I am able to demonstrate excellent communication skills with children using the strategies of ECAT and ICAN. I always ensure that I am at the child’s level to communicate as I name and repeat objects and comment on what the child is doing to encourage a response rather than asking questions.
I demonstrate excellent communication skills both written and verbal with all colleagues, parents/carers and professionals on a daily basis. I always communicate by being polite and approachable and demonstrate a non-judgemental attitude.

I have the ability and communication skills to liaise with other professionals to meet the needs of every child. For the past eighteen years I have worked within multi-agency settings; I liaise on a daily basis with the Nursery manager/SENCO and work colleagues where I feedback information about all children in our care. I regularly liaise with professionals that visit children in nursery such as Educational Psychologist, Autism outreach team, Speech and Language Therapist, Specialist speech, Portage and School support teacher to inform them of children's progress through my observations and documentation of children's learning and development using EYFS Development Sheets and Two Year Progress Sheets.

It is important in my job role that I plan, organise and prioritise my work in order to use my time effectively and manage my workload to ensure my work and that of my colleagues is completed to the highest possible standard. I think teamwork is very important and the key strategy is good communication between colleagues and management. I work closely with team members and communicate clearly and professionally in a way that supports everyone within the team. I am a team player and supportive both professionally and personally.

I am an enthusiastic, self-motivated individual who always strives to achieve a very high standard in whatever is undertaken. I am honest, trustworthy, have a good sense of humour and I am more than capable of working independently using my initiative. I am prepared to work hard and flexible hours whilst always undertaking a pro-active approach daily and within all my work. This is also a quality that I heavily model and encourage between all of my colleagues. I have demonstrated a commitment to continuous personal professional development through the enthusiasm and commitment of attending and completing extensive training sessions and qualifications. Training and development are very important to me in order to fill skills-gaps effectively.

Experience
I have had 3 years experience of working in a school environment. I am familiar with EYFS, key stage 1 and 2 of the National Curriculum. I have also had a twenty-week placement working along-side class teachers and support staff in Barnes Infant School. My main roles and responsibilities during the placement were: liaising with the class teacher on a daily basis and carrying-out duties/tasks, also giving-feed-back to the teacher on children’s learning as well any other issues/concerns. I liaised with children’s parent/carer and supported or assisted individual and small groups of children to carry out tasks set by the teacher. I observed pupils and assisted to meet their individual needs and targets. I also contributed in the assessment of pupil’s progress. I supervised children in-doors/out and outings, maintaining a safe and secure environment. I also organised equipment and resources and attended staff meetings.

I have had 4 years experience working with children 3-4 years in the education nursery where I was key worker to up to twenty children. Through the leadership of the teaching staff I gained extensive experience of curriculum planning. One of my job roles was to be responsible for a curriculum area each term. I followed the teachers short term planning and learning intentions. Through my observations planning is reviewed, updated, adapted and reflected upon weekly. Activities, resources and equipment are amended and changed accordingly. I make written and photographic reflections and share these at staff meetings.
I have strengthened my own skills and abilities through shadowing teachers and observing at small/big group times. Extensive observations of teaching staff has enabled me to enhance my own abilities greatly. At Pennywell, historically, speaking and listening skills are below average of expected development. Therefore I initially implement activities at small group times and one to one interventions using Phase One listening and speaking activities (Talking Tabards, Listening Mouse, Mrs Browning Box, BLAST) etc. I have also used sound awareness activities; clapping the syllables with older children. I have good understanding that the more words children know and understand before they start on a systematic programme of phonic work the better equipped they are to succeed.

I have 7 years experience working with the 0-3 years age group. On a daily basis I record observations of individual children and document their development evidence within their Learning Story book. This includes learning stories, magic moments and special memories from home which are all linked to the EYFS. My books and learning stories include “What’s Next?” which demonstrates my ability to observe emerging interests and follow these interests to enhance and develop children’s learning and development. Part of my job role is to implement transition visits for those children who will be moving into the main room following their third birthday to access their nursery education. This involves organising and implementing a programme of visits where a familiar adult supports the child in exploring their new learning environment and emotionally prepares them for the change. When a child is aged between two and three years I was responsible for reviewing and assessing their progress to produce a summary of their development within the three prime areas of the EYFS, this is known as a Two Year Progress Check. To do this I identify the individual child’s strengths and any needs that are emerging in order to develop a plan that will continue to support the child’s learning and development. I then liaise with the child’s parents/carers to inform them of the findings of the progress check and discuss how it can be used to support the child’s learning and development at home.

Previously when working as 'Room Leader' for the 2-3 age group I had taken on the role to oversee that staff are following and understand the policies and procedures and ensure that other practitioners learning story books, EYFS documentation, reflections and observations are correct to ensure the room is running to an outstanding standard. I supported less confident staff to input data into their Learning Story books and to understand the EYFS guidelines through role modelling the skills I gained whilst working at 'Pennywell'. I am was very supportive towards all of my colleagues as I lead and guided them, modelling my own skills and abilities. I involved the staff in reviewing, analysing and evaluating their own practice through initially leading an informal supervision and actively encouraging them to develop their own practice.

I have gained in-depth experience working with children that have 'Support Plans'. I gather information on individual children and contribute data and evidence to support their support plan files and to contribute to reports. I shadow children and make narrative observations, pass information on to key workers, SENCO and parents/carers. I carry out intervention activities on a daily basis with small groups and individual children, often involving other members of staff to observe my practice. The activities support and develop children’s listening and attention, understanding and speech and language skills. I feedback information at staff meetings to ensure that the child’s learning styles, interests and individual needs are being met.

I am committed to providing opportunities that support parents/carers to help their children learn as I strongly believe that parents/carers are a child’s first educators. I feel that it is very important to liaise with parents/carers on a daily basis to strengthen the link between education and home. I communicate with them through verbal and non-verbal approaches using home/school diaries and formal and informal discussions. I work together with my colleagues, room leaders and the senior management team where I take an active leading role in organising, promoting, facilitating and implementing parent workshops. My aim is to use the trusting and friendly relationships that I build with parents/carers to help them feel comfortable and confident in joining us in nursery. The sessions are aimed at promoting and enhancing the relationships between parents/carers and their children and enhancing their own play skills through adult role modelling and discussion. The sessions are very informative in an informal and fun way and are based around every day activities i.e. bedtime routines, natural object fun etc.