As an Apprentice Nursery Nurse, Lily Huntington’s role is to provide care and education for the children within our childcare setting. Meeting all of their needs both physically and emotionally whilst continuing to create a safe and exciting environment for them to play, explore, learn and grow.

Lily returned to the nursery in June to enable more key workers to return to work. It became quickly apparent that her role soon became to support a vulnerable child with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) to be able to access our nursery. She worked alongside our Special Education Needs Co-Ordinator and the child’s family to build a bond with the child allowing him to feel secure and cared for whilst in the nursery. 

She gave support to enable the child to be fully included within our setting, allowing him opportunities to create an attachment to her which we relied upon when our SENCO was not available to him. Without this the child would not likely have been able to access our nursery in these times and his emotional wellbeing needs would have suffered if his main key person (SENCO) was not available for him. To build a bond with a child who has these sorts of specific needs requires a person who has patience, resilience and a huge amount of empathy. You also need a good level of understanding of childcare learning and development to be able to tailor your practice to suit the individual child. 

She did this whilst also looking after other key worker’s children, many of whom have parents on the front line and their family dynamics had also changed within lockdown, not to mention many had not been away from home in several months. To be able to achieve what she has as an apprentice is outstanding and shows the potential she has to progress and excel in her career, possibly with a speciality in working with children SEND or from vulnerable backgrounds.