Caroline Lamont

My working background is mainly small family run private day nurseries, within these settings I have worked with a wide range of ages from birth to 5 years. Having worked with children for over 20 years I have the patience to relate to the children I work with. I pride myself on getting to know the children well and being enthusiastic about planning activities for their age and stage of development. I have also worked in a sure start centre gaining experience working with children and their families running crèches and activities in deprived areas, I headed up a Saturday group for a Bangladeshi woman's group opening up the centre for them and their children to use, play dates, food tasting. I believe my relationship with parents/carers to be very good, they know they can approach me with problems or questions and I will solve these to the best of my ability, if I can't find the answer I will always point them in the right direction. I believe if you work with a team you have to make a conscious effort to work together and deal with any problems and the day ahead. I also hold a safeguarding qualification and keep myself abreast of any changes to the law and it is also my responsibility to keep staff up to date of any changes by way of holding staff meetings or sending out memos, during this role I have gained experience of working with some outside agencies such as social services and the local police force. As you are aware confidentiality is paramount in these matters. As stated in the qualification section I hold an NNEB qualification which I gained in 1997, securing a college place straight from school. I always knew I wanted to work with children and have gained over 20 years experience in the field. In 2014 I decided I wanted to expand my knowledge and began looking for a course that would give me the chance to do this, I began my B.A Honours degree in learning, development and support in education in September 2014 and graduated in July 2017. The course has given me an insight into subjects such as ADHD, Dyslexia, The SEND code of practice amongst other subjects. Studying these subjects doesn't mean I am qualified to diagnose but does give me more knowledge and will enable me to help children and parents with advice on what to do next in these circumstances. I am very passionate about safeguarding, it is our job as adults and role models to keep the children we work with safe from harm and nurture their development to the best of our ability. I am currently working for a charity who provide respite care for children and young adults with additional needs or complex health needs at the moment the majority who access the service have ASD, ADHD, anxiety at a high level and sensory processing disorder. We provide short period respite for parents who are struggling and need a well deserved break. I also have personal experience with most of these conditions as I have a nephew with ASD and a niece and a young daughter with sensory processing and ADHD, dealing with conditions and using strategies to minimise meltdowns gave me the confidence to help others in the community. Unfortunately due to the charity going into administration in early 2019 I was made redundant. It left families from the borough in limbo as some without our service would have had a family breakdown. It broke my heart and in April 2020 I incorporated Rainbow Kids Ltd CIC to companies house hoping to give families the service they needed and deserved.