Jessica Whiteley from Plume College in Maldon, Essex, is this year's Heinemann and Nursery World Childcare Student of the Year.
Jessica was presented with her award by Brian Tytherleigh, director of the Children's Workforce Development Council, at a ceremony held at Heinemann's head office in Oxford on 1 July. She received a certificate along with one year's subscription to Nursery World and a cheque for £300.
The award provides an opportunity to celebrate the work that childcare students are doing and seeks to reward them for their outstanding achievements.
It also highlights colleges producing first-class students, by rewarding the institution as well as the student. Plume College received a £300 voucher to spend on Heinemann resources which was accepted by Jessica's tutor, Gill Leafe.
All four finalists in this year's line-up were taking the CACHE Diploma in Childcare and Education. The runners-up are Bethany Chiles from University College Birmingham, Verity Jones from Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College, and Kate Taylor from Preston College. They each received a cheque for £100, together with £75 worth of Heinemann vouchers for their college.
UNIVERSITY PLANS
Jessica is delighted to have won in a very close decision. 'I'm still in shock!,' she says. 'The award will look amazing on my CV too.' She plans to save her £300 for university - but maybe a little of it will go on shopping! She has just completed her diploma and plans to go to the University of Kent in September to study social psychology. She hopes to own and run her own nursery one day.
Jessica is working at a local nursery to earn some extra money for university and recently completed the Barnardos Pyramid Training course and carried out voluntary work at a local primary school, aiming to build confidence in children with low self-esteem.
Judge and Heinemann childcare book author Penny Tassoni commented, 'It was the hardest year to date, as all candidates showed a good understanding of child development and amazing confidence in front of a judging panel. The students are a great credit to their families and tutors.'
Brian Tytherleigh reinforced this. 'It is important to celebrate the success of our childcare students, as they are the practitioners of the future,' he said. 'What I've heard and seen today has impressed me and the quality of work displayed has been exemplary. All the students here are winners. Jessica demonstrated a strong commitment to children, which was backed up by some excellent written work.'
The judging process took place on the same day as the presentation of the award. The four finalists were each given a case study of a real-life situation involving children at nursery and asked to report back to the judges on how they would tackle the issue posed to them. The judges made their decision based on the outcomes, together with the supporting written work submitted prior to the day.
The judging panel included Penny Tassoni and Brian Tytherleigh, plus Beth Howard, senior publisher for childcare at Heinemann, Wendy Taylor, chief examiner at CACHE, and Liz Roberts, editor of Nursery World.
