One year on, Charlotte Reynolds reveals that successfully completing the EYITT programme is still one her greatest achievements

After completing my degree in Early Years Education I very quickly began working for Seymour House as a practitioner. My passion and dedication to Early Years enabled me to work towards a senior role within my first six months of employment and I was very excited to be offered a place on the EYITT course in September 2015.

Completing my Early Years Initial Teacher Training with Best Practice Network remains one of my greatest achievements. I found the course to be challenging yet inspiring and it allowed me to constantly reflect on practice so that I was able to be the best practitioner possible and also to lead others to raise quality across my setting.

My personal tutor, Maureen Lee, was incredibly supportive. She was very responsive and answered emails promptly and helpfully whenever I had a question or needed help with an assignment. We had regular telephone correspondence to discuss my progress and highlight areas in which I needed to work on in order to improve and I always felt that my targets were reasonable and achievable.

Unfortunately, personal circumstances meant that I was unable to progress with the EYITT course for a period of a few months and Maureen was extremely supportive. I was given deadline extensions and had face-to-face meetings to discuss my options. With Maureen’s support I was able to complete the course with an ‘Outstanding’ grading just a few weeks after the other trainees.

Since that time, I have been working as a Senior Early Years Teacher in the ‘Nursery Class’ at my setting. I have been able to put my knowledge and experience from the course into practice and have seen the children progress with their learning as a result. After a recent successful interview, I will be moving on to a new role in a Reception classroom within a primary academy as an EYFS Class Teacher from September 2017 and I am incredibly excited about this new challenge.

I would highly recommend the EYITT course to all practitioners who are looking to further develop their professional learning and expand their knowledge and understanding of Early Years.