<p>Our <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/educa… Level Year 1 Education and Early Years</a> learners hosted their first Stay and Play of the year in our purpose-built Community Room on Thursday afternoon. Learners set up a range of activities including painting, playdough and a story corner, which they then welcomed a group of children from <a href="https://thenursery.uk.com/">The Nursery</a> to come and play! The Nursery is in Portishead, and has a great relationship with the Early Years learners, particularly as they are a <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/career-excellence-hubs">Career Excellence Hub</a> Employer. This means they provide industry placement opportunities for our learners, and provide industry standard knowledge that can influence the content taught on the course.</p><p>It was a lovely afternoon had by both children and learners, and they received some amazing feedback following the session!</p><p>The Nursery commented, “We have made a really valuable link with Weston College to support our future early years practitioners. The preschool children explored the wonderful activities the students had set up, and interacted so confidently in the new space. We are all looking forward to returning and trying out some fun new activities.”</p><p>The Assessor and Placement Officer for Early Years, Rachael Moger, commented, “The Stay and Play was a fantastic opportunity for both the learners and the children. We’re very lucky to have The Nursery as a CEH Employer – ensuring work experience opportunities to our learners is so important to us here at Weston College, so having that close working relationship with The Nursery is so beneficial. We all can’t wait until the next Stay and Play, which is Christmas themed!”</p><p>Click here if you’d like to find out more about <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/educa… Years</a> and <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/t-lev… Levels</a>.</p>

<p>This summer we were presented with a really exciting opportunity, to create a new forest school for our Education and Early Years students!</p><p>It has been fantastic to see this come to fruition, with support from across faculty to make this such an exciting environment for learners. A couple of weeks ago, we joined forces with Construction staff to clear the brambles and build a wooden bridge to make the area safe and ready for learners.</p><p>The concept of Forest Schools originated in Scandinavia. The teaching approach was widely adopted in Denmark throughout the 1980’s and was believed to be the solution to the lack of indoor facilities for Pre-School children.</p><p>In the early 1990’s a group of nursery practitioners visited Sweden and witnessed the benefits. Following their return to the UK they developed a programme for Forest Schools. Forest Schools has now become widely accepted across the UK and the approach has taken on its own unique flavour which is being adopted elsewhere in the world.</p><p>The Education Career Excellence Hub at Weston College has always spent time on the theories and delivery linked to Forest schools, but this year with the support of our Future Business Partner’s Puxton Park and Busy Buddies, our learners can experience their own dedicated area on a weekly basis.</p><p>At Weston College we are committed to supporting learners to become more environmentally conscious, and we are always looking for ways to help the younger generations appreciate the outdoors and natural environments – with this being the next step in our journey.</p><p>There is also an increasing awareness of the importance of understanding wellbeing and self-development from a young age, so it is vital that our learners here at Weston College get the chance to understand and develop the skills required as they enter this Education sector changing for the future.</p><p>Going forward, our T Level learners will be instrumental in designing this space as part of their programme, and will study the holistic and learner led approach where space allows children to take risk and problem – solving a natural environment.</p><p>The Education Career Excellence Hub at Weston College delivers a wide range of courses where learners can go on into a teaching profession, teaching assistant, nursery professional, childminder or educational support. <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.w… our full suite of course, by clicking here</a>.</p><p><em>Sandra Bull, Dean of Faculty for Service Sectors</em></p>