Jaime, auxiliaire parentale à Birmingham B16

Hello, my name is Jaime. I am 23 years old, and I love working with children. My previous experience in educational and voluntary settings has given me a passion for supporting children’s well-being and I have always found working with children very rewarding.

From September 2015 to January 2017, I was working as a full-time and part-time Nursery Assistant at Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery in Warwick, then at Castle Nursery in Kenilworth, then again at Norfolk House Nursery in Edgbaston. These experiences have taught me a great deal about how a nursery is run, and how to work together as a team to effectively run a nursery, as well as gaining first-hand experience of how to look after children of that age.

While working as a Nursery Assistant, I was given the responsibility of planning for my key children. From this, I learnt about the different activities one can do to incorporate the seven learning areas of the EYFS curriculum into the children’s learning, in a way that makes learning fun. Even though I had learnt some behaviour management approaches from my work experience before starting work, these jobs showed me which approaches work and which did not. I therefore feel confident that I can be a caring figure who can connect with the children, but who can also be firm but fair when it is required of me.

Some of the children in my group were facing their own challenges, including one who was autistic and another who was a selective mute. Over time, I was able to build relationships with these children, as well as all the children in my group, so that they trusted me and listened to me. This has taught me how to be encouraging towards children in my care to help build their self-esteem.

When I was working at Castle Nursery as a part-time assistant, I was not given the responsibility of key children, however I still managed to be supportive towards my colleagues who did have key children, by aiding them during activities, and keeping the children occupied and happy while my colleagues planned their activities and wrote up their assessments.

I graduated in 2015 from The University of Birmingham with a 2:1 in BA Childhood, Culture and Education. The student curriculum at Birmingham taught me how to manage my time, work effectively and meet deadlines. I wanted to learn about child psychology and development, the social policies that affect children’s lives, the teaching methods implemented in different schools and how to overcome learning difficulties and disabilities affecting children’s progress. My dissertation covered sibling relationships and their effect on educational achievement. I found researching this area very interesting and the methodology I employed has helped me become more professional in my manner.

In addition to my degree and my previous jobs, I have a good deal of previous experience in educational and play settings. During Easter and summer in 2014, and again in 2015, I volunteered with Kids Adventure, a holiday scheme for disadvantaged children. It was a real pleasure to offer the children some fun as a respite from their everyday lives and participate in a broad range of activities including arts, sports and excursions. Also, as a member of the Saturday Morning Play Scheme for children with disabilities, we would pair up with a child and take them on trips such as the zoo or horse-riding etc. This volunteering experience taught me a little Makaton sign language, as one of the children I was regularly paired with was non-verbal. Although a challenge, I was able to find new ways of communicating with her, which are lessons I have carried with me ever since.

I also have a CELTA qualification to teach English as a foreign language. The training involved being thrown in the deep end, teaching a class of adults on the second day, most of whom could only barely speak English. I am therefore pretty confident in my ability to find my feet quickly, whatever the situation.

Work and studying aside, I have spent much of my spare time enjoying my favourite hobbies which include art, writing and circus skills. At university I was on the committee of our circus society for two years, as social secretary and then as treasurer. Both these roles taught me how to organise events, such as the National Ballring Convention. Nowadays I enjoy writing short stories and drawing.

I would be delighted to hear from you, and to become a part of your family.