Celebrating Success 2020 - Honor Davison

My name is Olivia Heath, I am 18 years old, I studied Level 3 Early Years and Childcare Education at South Essex Colleges Group (SECG) and this is my story.

Before coming to the college to study, I had just finished my GCSE's in school and had to find a different approach in order to get to the career I wanted. I chose to study at SEGC as it was easy to travel to and close to home. It also gave me an easier approach into teaching.

The best thing about doing further education is that you have more independence, get treated more as a grown up compared to school and it allows you to view things differently and have a vision for your career path.

I have gained a lot of valuable skills that I can now take with me into primary schools on my journey to becoming a primary school teacher such as identifying how children develop. As I have had the opportunity to do this already, I am able to view this from a different perspective.

My studies helped me prepare for the workplace through doing work experience in both a nursery and primary school to see which I preferred and to see the differences between the two.

My time at SECG boosted my confidence a lot as we had to do a few presentations in front of the class and meet new people at placements and help them to look after around 30 children twice a week. The tutors at college also helped me to overcome a lot of fears I had, as well as struggles outside of college.

My favourite memory of being at college has to be all the fun we had during our lessons because if your lessons aren't fun as well as serious it can feel very draining and it can make you unmotivated. But on top of that I remember all the stories we would all share while we were in placements and comparing them with each other. 

I would recommend SECG because the opportunities you have to take you on the right path are brilliant. The staff are all so supportive and they are always there if you need someone to talk to. The careers advisors are so helpful especially if you are looking to go to university and the wellbeing team provide you with excellent support and they always check in on you to see how you are doing. My greatest achievement so far has got to be getting into university and pursuing my dream to become a teacher as I didn't think I would be able to at the start of college. 

My ambitions for the future are to finish my course at university and become a teacher. I would also love to use my career to teach in different countries around the world and also across different part of the UK and see what it is like teaching in different places. 
 

Lisa D’Auria, Owner of Rocking Horse Childcare (Mother) and Amy Cassen, Manager of Rocking Horse Childcare (Daughter).

My name is Lisa D’Auria, the Owner of Rocking Horse Childcare and my name is Amy Cassen, the Manager of Rocking Horse Childcare.

I chose to study at the college because my daughter, Amy had done her first year of university degree. After looking at her module, I thought that I could do that. I was unsure being a mature student, so I got in touch with Maria Cruikshank and spoke to her about the degree and then decided to give it a go.

It was close to where I lived at the time because I lived at home. I didn’t want to go away for university because I felt like I needed that extra support from home, and I had also been to the tour. I got to speak to the staff and the staff were so friendly.

I would highly recommend university. As a mature student, the support I was able to give other students. Knowledge and experiences I already had that maybe they hadn’t. There were also things they knew that I hadn’t, that combination was brilliant.

The tutors were everything there, Maria she was amazing. They made you think about why you’re doing it and that filtered down to the assignments. That carried on throughout my career, because that’s when I decided to do my PGCE and was successful in doing it. I understood my purpose. The tutors on my course were incredibly supportive.

I enjoyed the whole experience. Coming from early years for so many years and coming from different sectors within that, there was so much I missed and so much building-blocks there and I wanted the underpinning knowledge. That’s what I got from the course.

After I finished my degree, I left early years for a while and went into finance because we all know that the sector isn’t funded well. It was because I didn’t know directly what I wanted in early years at the time, so I had to take a step back and think about it. I didn’t last very long out of the sector, so I went straight back to it. I did my QTS in Teaching and that came from my Early Years degree because I loved the learning and development side, so I wanted to take that further. I did all of those, got into teaching and absolutely loved it, but I still have a passion for the early years side of it. In all honesty, that’s grown me as a person, because coming back to early years with all that knowledge has solidified my passion for it.

After I left the degree, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go but maybe going into accessing. I had been a mentor for the students within the degree, and I liked that way of helping others. I looked into assessing for a while, but I loved being with the children. After going back into nursery, I then started up my own childcare business and Rocking Horse Childcare was born.

Now I’m managing our new setting at Rocking Horse Childcare, working alongside my Mum which is lovely. We took the decision from that we both always loved early years, that’s why I taught because of my Mum. She’s worked within that all her life, that’s all I’ve ever known, and it just worked out. The timing was right, and we wanted to do it together. We’ve both got ideas that we wanted to imbed. Where I said that university empowered us, we felt confident in putting these practises into place.

The early years needs a lot more support in recruiting staff. I love every aspect in being here at work. I love early years, I’m passionate about early years and I like helping little ones achieve. The slightest thing you see, a crawl, a first word, to threading to jumping, it’s all those things that you know that you’ve been part of that process for that child.

I highly recommend early years. Knowing that you have changed that child’s life. It doesn’t always seem like it, but you are. Everything you do in the way you talk to them and the way you’re supporting those families. The tiniest things can have a huge impact and you grow as a person, so I would highly recommend even just chatting to the tutors, just go.  

My name is Leah Horton, I am 21 years old, I studied Early Years Education at University Centre South Essex from 2020 until 2023 and this is my story.

Before starting at UCSE, I had just dropped out of Winchester University after a short period of time, as I felt homesick and was unsure of the course. I was then accepted into UCSE at the very last minute and have been grateful for having this opportunity. I chose to study at South Essex College as I was able to commute from home. When looking at the course, it was suited to the career I originally wanted to do, whilst also having brilliant reviews. 

My time at UCSE prepared me for the workplace as it made me understand that to achieve and succeed in life, you have to work hard for it. The best thing about doing higher education is the rewarding feeling you get once you have completed everything at the best standard you possibly could have. I have gained lots of confidence during my time at the university, whilst also gaining organisation skills, both in which I will use in the workplace. 

My favourite memory of being at the university is when my friends and I would walk down to the beach at lunchtime and eat the donuts! After finishing my degree, I applied for many jobs, and participated in online courses to ensure I got a job in the industry I wished to work in. I have been lucky enough to have been given a job in a Lloyd’s Syndicate in the City, at my dream company, Munich Re.

My official title will be a Claims Delegated Authority Assistant, where I will be assisting the claims team in various tasks including the day-to-day admin. I have had no experience in this industry, however, I was proactive in searching for jobs and completing free courses to gain a better understanding of the industry. 

My tutor at UCSE, Maria helped me to achieve the grades I have achieved in all of my assignments, whilst also helping me to understand what it was that I actually wanted to do as a career, and for that, I couldn’t recommend UCSE enough. Maria helped me grow as a person and gain lots of confidence. My time at the university helped me gain confidence and persistence. With my greatest achievement being achieving a 2:1 in my dissertation. 
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n the future, I hope to progress through insurance and to gain my CII certification.