Meet Our Apprentices! #2 - Fran Shaw

What does a typical day look like for you?

We have breakfast until about 9:15, and the children have free play time whilst we welcome everyone in. Then we’ll do circle time – we have a couple of routine songs like our ‘hello’ song, the days of the week song and the weather song.

Then we’ll go outside and play – there’s always something set up outside, like an obstacle course. We did a bug hunt this morning with magnifying glasses! When we come in, we set up structured activities for the children’s next steps. There’s still a lot of choice and autonomy for them, though, and we follow their lead – if they don’t come over to the activity that we’ve set out for them, we can adapt what they’re already doing to fit their next steps.

At various points throughout the day we’ll of course see to their physical care needs, so nappies and potty training. Next we’ll have lunch, followed by a nap or play time. Again, we follow their lead – we’ll get the sand tray out, look over the next minute and there’ll be loads of dinosaurs in there too! Then we go outside again, have tea, and parents start coming to collect their children. I really enjoy doing their handovers and catching the parents up on their children’s days.

How do you come up with your activities?

Pinterest is a life saver! But because we all communicate with each other, you get such good ideas from just chatting together. For example, if I was thinking of something, Emma (the other Head of Blue Room) might then suggest something, and we’d bounce off each other with ideas. There’s a lot of thinking out loud! We make sure to pre-plan our activities too, because obviously you do need supplies for some activities. Like today, I almost forgot to order lemons, and my activity was to make lemonade at a lemonade stand!

(Natasha): That’s such a fab activity, I love it!

I do it every year, but change it up a bit. One year I made an actual lemonade stand out of cardboard and the children made the bunting. It’s always a good one!

What is your favourite part about working with children?

I think my favourite part is that you really understand just how important their development is at that age. It’s really special to know that our efforts will help them long-term, even if they don’t remember us down the line! It’s so nice when you hear from the parents little things like ‘I had to pretend to be you at home while we were playing’ – it makes you realise that you are making an impact on their lives.

But also their innocence is so refreshing. They help us feel lighter because they get so excited over the things we take for granted, like seeing a ladybird in the garden. They’re so full of wonder and joy.

I also love the creative side and thinking of all the activities. It is really exciting watching them grow and develop and knowing your input has had a part to play in it. I love it when you come up with an activity and then they extend it themselves by adding something or asking a question that you didn’t expect them to come up with!

What is your current role and how has it progressed since you started?

I started as a Level 2 Apprentice, then the opportunity came for me to be Joint Head of Room whilst I was completing my Level 3 course. It worked well, as I had Emma’s support, but I also had a lot of time where she wasn’t in as she’s term time only, so I could take the lead on my own. I would love to be head of a Preschool room at some point in the future as I think it would be a fun new challenge.