Beginning

Joining sixth form I believed I would become a primary school teacher or a nursery practitioner.

I studied the Childcare and Education, Level 3 diploma at sixth form. The diploma was about children’s development and wellbeing, safeguarding, and working with other professionals. I was attracted to this course because it offered the opportunity for hands on learning.

My placements in nurseries and reception classes allowed me to develop my knowledge of children, engage with families and professionals and gain confidence in working with children.

Whilst I enjoyed the flexibility between classroom teaching and placement, I found myself worrying that I wasn’t necessarily well-suited to the role of a nursery practitioner.

I really worried what my plan would be after sixth form finishes.

Asking 'why?'

As my placement continued, I began to recognise myself asking 'why?'

Why does this child behave like that? What are the reasons behind this child’s behaviour? I began thriving at handover time when I had the opportunity to talk to families and handover information about the children’s day!

On my final placement, I was working in a class when a young child disclosed to me some worrying information.

Following this incident, I found myself interested in what happened with this information after I had shared the information - where did the information go? Who did the class teacher speak too? Would other professionals support this child?

Discovering social work

After the concerning information was disclosed to me on placement, my sixth form tutor and I discussed social work.

We looked at job descriptions and the vast number of roles you can progress to with a social work degree. I used sites like Prospects to look further into what a social worker’s role is and see whether it was well suited to me.

The variety in a social worker’s role, from attending court to organising support for people, excited me.

When I understood what Social Work was, I began to search which universities offered Social Work as a degree. I used the Complete University Guide to begin to see which Universities interested me and where they ranked in the rankings tables.

Change of view

Despite it being first in the leagues tables for Social Work and having an amazing reputation, I was worried Lancaster University was too close to home for me.

I contemplated sacrificing the high ranking of Lancaster for another University which was further away from home for me but considerably lower down the ranking tables. I visited several Universities, beginning with the ones further away from my hometown.

After visiting one University I was sold and thought that it was the one for me on the day. A few weeks later my friend asked me to come visit Lancaster University with her on an open day.

When visiting Lancaster and the campus I immediately felt at ease and thought that this was the place for me. I began to recognise strengths and weaknesses between city universities and campus universities and see all the positives Lancaster had to offer me compared to other universities I had looked at.