Early Childhood

“I left school last year at the end of Year 11 and spent eight months working with my parents in their cleaning and maintenance businesses. I really wanted to get into nannying though – I help teach kids at karate and I also have quite a bit to do with the young children at our church. I love kids!

“I’ve really enjoyed studying at Ignite Colleges. The campus is nice and big with a cool café and the atmosphere is good. There are not too many students so I feel comfortable here. As far as my ECE course goes, it has been great. The tutor is really cool – she explains everything well and matches her teaching style to our individual ways of learning. The course is really thorough; we spend lots of time focussing on each unit rather than rushing through topics like we did at high school. Classes are small so we get a lot of one-on-one attention which is great.

“The practical, hands-on nature of the course has been one of the biggest highlights. We do lots of crafts and learn how to make our own resources. We also spend two weeks working in an early childhood centre. I worked in Tiny Wonders Early Learning Centre in Pukekohe, which was a great opportunity to put everything I had learned in class into practice.

“Next year I am moving into further study and will gain a Level 5 nanny qualification. After that the world is my oyster – I plan to nanny in New Zealand for a while and eventually go overseas and work.”

Melanie Bullock