Early Years

Ideal if: you are looking for a career working with young children, but are not yet ready to take a Level 3 qualification.

You'll learn: how young children develop and the role of the Early Years Practitioner in this.

Expect to: study play and learning, children's development, working in partnership with others including parents and how to provide a healthy and safe environment for children, including safeguarding.

You'll love: the chance to gain practical experience working in a real workplace.

This course will give you the opportunity to learn about the role of the Early Years Practitioner in a childcare/education setting. You will also study child development and how to support children to learn early reading and writing skills. Other areas of study involve relevant legislation and current Early Years Curriculums.

You will be able to gain practical experience and have the opportunity to work in a real workplace, whilst studying the essential skills necessary to progress further. You may also be required to study English and Maths to improve your skills.

You will study a range of topics relating to the Early Years childcare/Education Sector. The topics you will study may include:

• Communication and Personal Development within the childcare/education setting
• Care routines for children
• Equality and Inclusion
• Supporting the creativity of young children
• Supporting children’s play, development and learning
• Supporting the behaviour of young children
• Health and Safety and Safeguarding
• Working in Partnership with services and professionals who support young children
• The role of observation, assessment and planning in children’s development and learning

You will be assessed through your course work and external assessment. 

You will need to complete and pay for a DBS check in order to attend any work experience in a nursery setting. There is a dedicated work placement officer to help with this if required.

This course is available at Gloucester, Cheltenham, and Cinderford Campuses.

At Gloucestershire College we want students to develop their English and Maths skills so that they achieve their learning goals and future career aims. For this reason all full-time students (16-18) who have not achieved grade 4 or above English language or maths GCSE will study these subjects as part of their course.