In May we published an article about our fantastic GRoW mum Gemma who was one of the first GRoW participants to undertake our Lockdown Training Programme and we are delighted to congratulate Gemma on now passing her course!
Gemma began the course at the start of Lockdown, in a bid to improve her employability skills and open up new opportunities once her young son returns to school in September. She decided to undertake the Level 2 Introduction to Caring for Children and Young People which is an online course that Strive Training were running as part of the GRoW Lockdown Training Programme.
Gemma said: “Being able to take the course from home in my own time was really useful as I could fit it around my son while he was at home.
“I found the course really good, though I must admit it was hard to juggle with homeschooling. When the last day of term came things got much easier as I was able to then concentrate more time on the course. Some modules were harder than others and I was having to use skills I haven’t used since High School! I had a great tutor though who told me I was doing really well and she helped me get through it more easily. She helped me work harder and do better, pushing me to answer questions more fully. What was really useful was that she would give me examples rather than just telling me the answers. This helped me to think for myself and better understand what was being asked of me.
“We communicated through Whatsapp mainly which was really easy to do and she gave me such great support throughout, checking I was doing the work correctly and advising me on whether I needed to elaborate or provide more information for certain sections.
“I’m really looking forward to putting my new qualification into practice now and have already started applying for jobs in schools. I would eventually like to work as a Teaching Assistant so maybe I could even do some volunteering in a school first to help me get my foot in the door. I could then look at doing a Teaching Assistant Course once I have some more experience under my belt.”