As part of my BEd, I went to America on a university exchange. I attended Mary Washington College during 1996. I was excited to do some Child Psychology courses whilst there and this ignited my passion further!
I completed my BEd (Hons) back in the UK and got the 1st class I needed to compete with the other Educational Psychology applicants. I was fortunate to get a job almost straight away and I completed my NQT year at a Beacon School in Slough. It was a hard few years, but my teaching benefitted from it. I stayed for two years and then found a job as a nursery teacher in Bucks, which was my passion.
At the same time as teaching for my second year, I started an MA in Children’s Literature at Roehampton Institute. I was also a picture book writer trying to get published at the same time! I never just have one mission! In 2001, I also started a BSc in Psychology with the Open University in the evenings. With this, I really felt I was on my way! Just to remind you, the reason for this was my original degree was not Psychology and this was needed for the Ed Psyc application.
It wasn’t my original plan to complete an MA and BSc at the same time, but somehow that is what happened. I was also teaching full time! Looking back, I don’t know how I did all of this! The MA involved travelling to Roehampton once or twice a week after work for lectures. The OU BSc involved a once a month tutorial and self-study.
I did the four Psychology courses and gained the 1st class I needed In 2004. I was
still working as a teacher and I had gradually worked up to SENCo and Key Stage 1 and Early Years Manager by 2002.
Between 2002 and 2004, I became a Research Project worker for Birkbeck University as a part time venture. This was a child development project. I did this while teaching to add to my application for Educational Psychology. This was a way for me to stand out from other applicants who all had Psychology and Teaching qualifications.
At the same time, I volunteered as a Play Project Worker at a Prison to work with children and their incarcerated fathers using play. I did this for 1.5 yrs on Saturdays and/or Sundays and I LOVED it! This was voluntary work and was another thing to add to my application.
