How did I get here?

I didn't follow the traditional route to becoming a teacher, I was 29 before I went back to retrain & had spent some time dabbling in student politics, marketing, office management & proof reading. 
However a series of events conspired to get me into a nursery class in 2006. My mum was a teacher and in fact was a nursery principal when she retired (early I better add) in 2006. Her colleague who was acting principal at the time needed a nursery assistant & I had recently lost my job. I am indebted to Christine for having the belief in me to allow me come into her class & be her assistant. Whether she thought I would be a natural merely because my mum was such a great teacher or she was just so desperate she figured anyone with a pulse would do - I got the chance to work in a nursery classroom in February 2006 for a few months. (It actually turned out to be 18 months).

Ice is never just ice when there are children around!  "It's a dinosaur egg"

I never forget that first day about an hour in, I was sitting at the water tray with some children playing with plastic fish & a pirate ship & I clearly remember thinking 'This is the best job ever'! I couldn't believe how much fun it was & I discovered I actually loved being around 3 & 4 year olds. All those years of hearing relatives say "Oh I bet you'll be a teacher like your mum" came back to me. I had been adamant for years that as I was nothing like my mum, of course I wasn't going to be a teacher! So imagine my surprise when I actually found out that I was very like my mum & in fact would be lucky to be half the teacher she was.

My mum - I only wish I had had the chance to work with her, as I now know she was one of the finest nursery teachers ever.

It took me a further 2.5 years before I was accepted on the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Primary Education. I knew I wanted to be a nursery teacher but at that time there was no early years PGCE so I had to put my year in learning to be a primary teacher. I graduated in August 2000 & finally had that elusive piece of paper that allowed me to go look for a job as a teacher.

I was fortunate to get a maternity cover in the same nursery where I had got a break as a nursery assistant (so Christine, by now the Principal, had a lot of faith in me) & that first year as a teacher I taught nursery, special needs  Primary 3. I enjoyed teaching in the primary schools but my heart lay in nursery. I was so lucky the following October to begin a temporary contract as nursery teacher in my current school. I never, ever thought I would still be there 12 years later!

I truly believe I have the best job in the world. I get to teach the most enthusiastic students in the school system. Everyday I hear laughter, get hugs & told how great I am!! Nursery children are natural optimists, they believe anything is possible & they rarely give up when they can't succeed at a new task. Some days when I am sitting in the block corner or having fun outside I still can't believe my luck. When we are out in the forest or cooking on the fire I have to pinch myself & I know I am so fortunate to do a job I love.

Imagine getting paid to make hot chocolate or popcorn?

I was walking back from the main school one day a few weeks ago & as I approached the nursery I could hear the children playing before I saw them through the fence. It is, quite possibly the best sound in the world & I get to hear it 5 days a week for 10 months of the year.

I do get cross when the early years as a sector is dismissed or worse still it comes attack from those who should know better. If children can not have a carefree, stimulating playful learning environment when they are 3 or 4 there is something seriously wrong with the world. So I will continue to hold firm against the formalisation of the early years. The children in my class will play with mud, rain, sticks etc., they will have time to watch a snail move slowly across the playground. I make no apologies for not worrying abut whether they recognise all the letters in their name or can hold a pencil 'properly'. They will learn all those skills in primary school & honestly look round a room of adults, do any of them hold a pen 'properly'?

I want the children in my class to have fun, to learn how to take risks, to experience that rush of achievement when they get up the slide or up a tree or put their own coat on. I want them to keep on trying when things aren't going so well & to know that it's OK to not be able to do something - but to never give up on the first try. 

I also believe that because I have worked in other jobs where I had to work weekends, evening & early mornings & during holiday periods that I fully appreciate how lucky I am to have a steady job that gives me quality time off to relax & recharge my batteries.

I truly mean it when I say that if I won the lottery in the morning I would keep on working, as realistically I feel like a lottery winner every day already.