Three members of staff reflect on their placements, developing the skills and industry knowledge.
Louise Stephenson, from the Education and Early Years department, has completed a 1 day placement at Morley Victoria Primary School.
'Whilst at the placement I was able to work alongside an HLTA, observing interventions with children who needed support with their learning. I observed a BSL sign language lesson for a deaf child with their teacher of the deaf. I also supported a group of children with an English lesson within the classroom. I think this experience was invaluable for my teaching in respect of helping our upper 6 students plan and prepare for the structured observations on their own industry placement. It gave me different ideas of appropriate interventions which could be carried out within the primary school. I also spent some time with the teacher and the deputy head, and found it useful to discuss what schools expect of students on placement. The school were unaware of the structure and demands of the T Level course so I was able to provide some insight for them in regards to what out students are expected to do while attending placement.'
Amy Hall, the Acting Head of Health and Social Care, went to Springbank Residential Care Home in Silsden for her placement.
'The placement was 1 day long and involved a meeting with the manager who ran through all their systems, and how they quality assure including paperwork and working in a multidisciplinary team, this was useful was my delivery as it allowed me to gain the most up to date knowledge of current systems that I could then feedback to my students. Part of the Health T Level second year is about correct documentation and roles of different health professional/the realties and challenges of this, so it was particularly useful for that. I then shadowed care workers caring for residents which was really useful for me. I have been a care worker but many years ago now, so it allowed me up to date experience and reminders of how to deal with challenging behaviour and also dementia. I also observed documentation being carried out. This second part of my day allowed me to share up to date experiences with students and give them recent examples of dementia/challenging behaviour which is part of their course. This was very useful as students, especially in the hospital, don't always experience dementia care, so this gave them a better insight.'
Karen Blakeman, teacher of Education and early Years, went to Inspirations Forest Nursery for a 1 day placement.
'I spent the day in the outdoor nursery with pre-school children who spend the whole day outside (all year round). In the afternoon I worked with the qualified forest school practitioners who everyday, take a group of children into the woods near the school for activities such as the den building, fungi identification and bug finding. I was able to learn more about the forest learning philosophy as well as experiencing its benefits for myself; the positive impact on behaviour, resilience and appreciation of nature.'
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