The ‘Getting Ready’ list below gives you resources and activities you can use to get ready for when your course starts at Colchester Institute in September.
Early years practitioners and teachers are considered key workers during these unprecedented times and are on the forefront of this pandemic. With this in mind it is important to consider how influential your role would be in supporting children with all aspects of their learning and development and working with families within different settings.
Activity 1 – Personal statement
As you have applied for a place on one of our childcare courses the first thing we would be interested to find out is why. Writing a personal statement gives you a wonderful opportunity to explain why you would like to work with young children and what possible future careers you have in mind for the future. Your personal statement can include:
- Your name and the course you have applied for
- Details on why you would like to study a child care course
- Have you had any experience of working with young children or had experience of looking after siblings or children from other family members or friends.
- Write a bit about yourself (your likes, interests, aspirations, hobbies etc.)
- What you might like to do in the future with a childcare qualification
Activity 2 – Creative activity
Working with children in early years setting can be a lot of fun. You will be expected to plan and participate in a variety of activities for all children to engage with. For example; Messy play, sand and water, playdough, construction with building blocks, imaginative play, role-play, story sacks, matching activities, junk modelling and much more.
Your task is to choose an activity and explain why children would like to take part in that activity? what benefits might it have to their learning and development? What safety aspects would you have to consider? What age group do you think it would be suitable for? What resources would you need? What would your role be whilst they were doing the activity?
Here are some examples you can refer to for inspiration:
WeHaveKids: https://wehavekids.com/parenting/Creative-Play-Creative-Play-for-2-5-Years-Old
Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/vicki_auty/creative-ideas-for-early-years/
Optional: You might want to do the activity yourself at home for some fun. If you do, you could add a photo of it and attach it to your activity plan.
