Will Purcell talks about the fantastic opportunity provided by EYITT to build his confidence and gain new skills to help young children learn in the most effective and exciting ways.

I began studying EYITT in September 2016. My degree is in Popular Music and I have 4 years’ experience in early years. I work as a practitioner at Archfield House Nursery in Bristol, a privately owned nursery with many extra-curricular activities such as beach school, yoga, Artfield (an art club), Snappy Snaps (a photography club that I run), Louis’ League (a football club) and Hunger Bugs (a cooking club). My EYITT mentor is the lead teacher and pre-school leader at the setting and I am very lucky to have such great support from her.

Prior to starting EYITT I had no qualifications in childcare and was very keen to extend my understanding of children’s development and care. The EYITT course through Best Practice Network and e-Qualitas was the best route for me to do this as I could study alongside my full-time job.

The face-to-face training days were a high point. The Bristol group met each month to share ideas and good practice and support each other. We found out how each of us was managing the different parts of the course, what was going well, what was proving difficult. Being able to talk everything through with a highly supportive and encouraging group has been very valuable. It was also in those days that I learnt about new teaching approaches, reading material, professionalism and the importance of my role as an early years teacher.

The training has been hugely encouraging and confidence-boosting for me, making me aware of my capabilities as an early years teacher to offer the children in my care highly stimulating and rich learning experiences. I have also learnt new ways to communicate effectively with children, which has helped to develop higher levels of trust and understanding between us, creating more solid relationships and a safe place in which the children can learn and take risks.

My colleagues have noticed my development and increased passion for the role, and that in turn has had a positive effect on them, increasing their own passion and desire to learn more. They value and take on board the ideas I bring and have asked for my input on developments within the toddler rooms.

The parents of my key children have been more involved in their children’s development as a result of my course, as I have wanted to share more of my own learning and desire to help teach their children. I share more photos, videos and learning stories with parents and that involves them in their child’s learning and development on a daily basis. I give parents more in depth feedback and explanations of what their children are learning from the activities I provide, and what I will do next in order to help their children develop further.

I would like to use my new knowledge to help my setting build on our already great environment and offer the children the most exciting and engaging learning experiences, as well as help to train newer staff members.

This really has been a fantastic opportunity for me to learn new skills to do my job in the most effective way. It has given me confidence in my ability to teach children and understand what deep learning is going on.