Hey! My name is Amy, I’m 20 years old and my main full-time job is working in a nursery! The job can be tiring and stressful at times but is so very rewarding.
If my shift is starting at 8am, I normally wake up at around half past six. I get up, have some breakfast, brush my teeth and pop my uniform on. I like to get up and ready in time for leaving the house at around quarter past seven. It takes me around 25 minutes to get to work but I like to leave ample time in the case of any traffic.
I’m rather sensible when it comes to my sleep schedule and try to always make sure that I am getting at least seven or eight hours in per night… after all, the kids require my energy!
When I arrive at work, the kettle goes straight on ready for a cup of tea… it’s the only way to start the day! I also tend to put the washing away from the day before, I like to be prepared before my working day starts.
My typical day will include a multitude of tasks, I work alongside the children to encourage a growth in their day-to-day skills. I teach them independence, change their nappies, pat them to sleep and feed the babies their dinner if they require any help. Throughout the day, I also complete paperwork in their development files to track their general progress.
I tend to have two variants when it comes to my shift pattern so I’ll either be working 8 until 4 or 10 until 6. Depending on the day, the number of children that I care for can alter too.. some days I might be nurturing a couple and other days I will be catering for seven different children’s needs, it never tends to be more than that though.
Lunch-time comes as a welcomed break where I can have five minutes to myself, eat some dinner and sometimes even have a cheeky flick through my phone. I love the social aspect of my job and enjoy chatting with my colleagues, my friends about the daily changes in the world.
I have always wanted to work with children so I made sure to pursue my interests. To get into the job role, I was required to hold a level three qualification in childcare. As soon as I achieved my grading, I looked around and was hired for this wonderful job.
As with every job, there are difficulties and rewards. It is mainly plain sailing here though and I can definitely say that the pros outweigh the cons. I don’t tend to face any obvious challenges in a day and the biggest difficulty is probably when I leave paperwork until last minute… so generally, it’s not bad at all.
The most rewarding part of my job is just seeing the children happy and enjoying themselves. It’s so lovely to see them having fun and re-applying all of the things that I’ve taught them!
In all honesty, since Covid-19 has become a part of society, nothing has really changed too much for us. We still go about our day as normal. As we work in an environment with young children, we have always had to follow strict protocols and ways of working.
My friends, family and colleagues will say that I’m quite a pro-active and busy person… I like to fill my time-table up with different things. In my spare time, I also have a second job running a beauty room above the nursery. It can be tiring putting in so many hours, I feel like I never stop sometimes but I wouldn’t change it.
I love both of my jobs equally and they both have such rewarding factors that come alongside them. I’m very lucky to enjoy them as much as I do… and that they’re both in the same building!
There are many people that have inspired me in life and encouraged me to be the person that I am today but if I were to thank anyone, it would be my family. They have always been, and continue to be so hard working. They’ve always tried their best for not only themselves but for me and the rest of the family too… I will always be grateful for that.
I would say my goal for the future is to maybe own a salon. To have something I can call my own, I aim to continue working hard in life so that one day I can achieve that.
If I were to give anyone advice in regards to trying to get into nursery work.. I would say stick at it. I know that it is a lot of work at the moment but once you’ve gained the qualification, it is so rewarding and it will open so many opportunities for you to go on and do further things.