Early Years Practitioner
Amy Miller
My Journey...
I have attended Our Monkey Club since I was 8 years old and made friends, had fun and grew up at OMC and when I became older I enjoyed volunteering with the children. I always wanted to work with animals and started college at 16 aiming towards a career caring for animals. While completing this course I spent time with the children at Our Monkey Club helping them to learn how to look after the animals. While I loved caring for the animals, I also loved spending time with the children and watching how engaged they were with the animals. I completed my course but continued to volunteer at Our Monkey Club and as people kept telling me how great I was with children, I began to recognise how much I enjoyed it. I’d always wanted to find my own career after spending my life around Early Years and Childcare but when I finally accepted that I really enjoyed it I started examining my career options.
Level II Early Years Practitioners
FdA Early Years
I started my degree at Pen Green Research Base and an apprenticeship at Our Monkey Club and started working with children in the role play and storytelling spaces. I loved working with the children and was very proud of starting to be a key person supporting children and families in the centre. I particularly enjoy working with the children that enter the centre more shy that others and I love helping them to build their confidence and find their feet in the setting. As someone who grew up in the settings, I understand being at Our Monkey Club from our children’s perspective and love helping them feel secure and safe the way I used to. I also decided to complete my Level 2 Early Years Practitioner qualification to ensure I focused on my practice development as these qualifications include assessed practice and a grounding in basic theory and legislation and passed this in 2020.
I still love working with the animals and enjoy supporting the children to engage the children in the care of the animals and I understand the things children can learn from developing these skills and having these experiences. I still enjoy leading on this program and also love my role as a key person to eight children and their families. I take pride in recording their achievements and learning process and sharing this with their families and celebrating them with the child. I completed my Foundation Degree in 2020 and I am taking a year out before I return to complete my BA (Hons) Working with Children and Families in the Early Years and during this time I hope to focus on enhancing my skills and understanding of a child’s process of learning and how to focus on the wellbeing to underpin effective learning. Therefore I am starting my Level 3 Early Years Educator qualification and focussing on working with our leadership team to improve my pedaogic understanding.