North Hertfordshire College’s Early Years Educator T Level learners have put their teaching skills to the test by delivering a series of outdoor learning activities to Year 2 pupils at Knebworth Primary School. The session was a collaboration between our students and the NHC Community Allotment project.
The T Level learners created a market-style experience for the 56 children, featuring a number of stalls themed around plants, how they grow, and the importance of healthy eating. They spent two weeks preparing their ideas, creating unique stalls which focused on different topics and learning styles. There was also a display area which taught how plants grow, featuring visual aids made by our students and some real plants that the children could interact with.
Vickie Sharp, Course Team Leader for the T Level in Early Years Education, explained how the experience fits with the curriculum: “Our T Level students have been learning about the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. This project in particular supports the framework aspect ‘Understanding the World’ for children aged 0-5 years.
“Many of our learners have long-term aspirations to become early years educators, leaders, and managers, or to progress on to university to study primary education, so this gave them the opportunity to embed their knowledge of curriculums and develop their teaching skills with children in a primary school setting – all on top of their normal work placement hours!”
Learners’ stalls included hands-on planting activities, drawing the lifecycle of a plant, and a game about where different fruit and vegetables come from. This was a great opportunity for our learners to discover first-hand what it’s like to teach this topic to young children. Scott Palmer, who is currently working towards his T Level at NHC, told us: “The project gave me the chance to work with children that are part of a different age group to those I’m working with during my placement, giving me the opportunity to understand how they learn differently and to practice my skills with a new age range and in a different type of learning space.”
Gaining experience of working literally outside of the traditional classroom environment is something the learners have found particularly beneficial. Reflecting on her experience, T Level learner Rue Thurston commented: “The project gave me a deeper understanding of why it’s important to allow children to go outdoors to learn. It helped me learn more about teaching in an outdoor space while keeping children on topic.”
The experience has also helped our learners think more about their next steps after college, like Archie Bradfield, who wants to train to be a primary school teacher in the future. He told us: “I’m completing this T Level qualification to progress to university and gather practical experience and skills along the way. I really enjoyed this project as it gave me an insight into working with primary school-aged children, and a practical view of how early years education links to the national curriculum subjects.”
As well as being a brilliant opportunity for our T Level learners, the experience has also been a positive one for the NHC Community Allotment and Knebworth Primary School. Paul Dee, Project Leader for the NHC Community Allotment, told us: “The experience was a great success; our students really brought the subject to life and got the children totally involved and interested. The teachers were so full of praise about the activities, our students, and how well they connected with the children. They are asking us to come back and run more sessions!
“Best of all, the Knebworth Primary School children had a great time. It was so lovely to see so many happy, smiling faces and listening to them chatting about what they had learnt.”
Well done to our T Level learners for delivering such a brilliant session!
If you’re interested in starting your own career in the child development and early years sector, then check out North Hertfordshire College’s Child Development Studies courses! With NHC, you can stay close to home and gain the experience to go far in your future career.