Year 11 student wanting to study at Norland College

Hiya!!
I am currently in year 11 and have absolutely set my heart on Norland. I am trying to stop thinking about it as I am aware it is very prestigious and I am not very likely to get in, but I was wondering if anyone would be able to give any advice my experience:
•volunteering at brownies (girlguiding) once a week. This also includes day trips out and overnighting.
•babysitting my friends sister on occasion
•Going into a primary school on my teacher training days (and I will be doing 3 weeks when my GCSE’s are over)
• Health and social L2
• I have also been accepted onto a college course where I would have 300 hours of experience in nurseries and schools
•Completed first aid and safeguarding training

I am wondering if this is enough and if you think I have Potential? Also, not to do with childcare but I have also done a sewing course at my local college as that is one of the things I enjoy! :smile:

Reply 1

Iosifina05

9

Original post by Jane Louise 223

Hiya!!
I am currently in year 11 and have absolutely set my heart on Norland. I am trying to stop thinking about it as I am aware it is very prestigious and I am not very likely to get in, but I was wondering if anyone would be able to give any advice my experience:
•volunteering at brownies (girlguiding) once a week. This also includes day trips out and overnighting.
•babysitting my friends sister on occasion
•Going into a primary school on my teacher training days (and I will be doing 3 weeks when my GCSE’s are over)
• Health and social L2
• I have also been accepted onto a college course where I would have 300 hours of experience in nurseries and schools
•Completed first aid and safeguarding training

I am wondering if this is enough and if you think I have Potential? Also, not to do with childcare but I have also done a sewing course at my local college as that is one of the things I enjoy! :smile:

Hi! As I'm sure you're aware, no one can really say whether you can get in as this is done to the admissions team on the day. However, I'll say this:

- Your experience is absolutely amazing for someone in Y11 - So you've done a great job there! These two, in particular, I'd say are extremely relevant - "babysitting my friend's sister on occasion" and "I have also been accepted onto a college course where I would have 300 hours of experience in nurseries and schools". This shows what they want for this requirement - "We expect applicants to have some experience of caring for children. This could include babysitting, nannying, volunteering at a children’s group, or helping to care for younger relatives, for example.".When you are writing your personal statement, make sure to do these things justice. 300 hours will make you stand out as long as you can really talk about what you learnt from it, especially as you'll be working around all different ages of children!

- This ("safeguarding training") is great. Make sure you remember everything for your interview as they state on their website that that is something they will be looking for at the interview - "Norland is committed to safeguarding and ensuring the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all students and staff to share this commitment. Your suitability as a prospective student will be assessed during the recruitment process in line with this commitment."

As you're in Y11, I'd recommend you focus on your GCSEs now. They don't have extremely high entry requirements for GCSE but obviously the higher you get, the better and more competitive you'll be. This is what you'll need: "a minimum of 5 GCSEs. These should be at grade 4 or above (or grade C and above), or equivalent prior to application, and must include English Language and Maths." However, after this, I'd say you reflect on your experiences so far. Think of certain examples that stand out to you over all of your experience and write them down - This will really help you in Y12 when you are writing your personal statement. Particularly think of examples where you displayed the following skills (I've tried to put examples of when you would need these skills but I don't know if this is how it would work in reality):

- Compassion - Needed if the family is in an extremely stressful situation, the child is upset/angry/etc (e.g. Loses their favourite toy) or the child has an accident (e.g. Stung by a bee or falls over and cuts themselves)
- Empathy - This will be needed for the same reason as above
- Respect - You may not agree with the parent's way of parenting but you have to respect that it's their decision even if you do decide to sit down and talk to them about it.
- Teamwork - You'll need to be able to work with the parents, school/teachers, medical professionals, etc to work towards the best interests of the child.
- Communication - You'll need to be able talk with a variety of people (such as those I've just mentioned) as well as be able to model good communication skills for the child's development (I think this is more important in younger children but will still be important with older ones as well)
- Negotiation, Compromise and Problem Solving - The child will not want to do everything you say and might kick up a fuss over it. You'll need to be able to come to a solution and reason with them to be able to get them to do what you want, such as brushing their teeth.
- Ability to deal with a stressful situation - You'll need to be able to stay calm in situations over which other people might get extremely frustrated over. For example, if the child is having a temper tantrum or if something unexpected happens, such as the child falling over in a playground and breaking their arm.
- Organisation - Children are messy and you'll need to know how to clean up the mess and when it's an appropriate time to do this. Also, you'll need to meet deadlines as a student and on placement, you'll need to make sure you arrive at places on time such as the child's home or school.

Have a look at this as well as you've be able to weave it in your personal statement and interview: https://www.norland.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/NORLAND-CODE-OF-PROFESSIONAL-RESPONSIBILITIES.pdf

Have a look at the funding as from what I've heard the tuition fee doesn't cover it all. If it doesn't for you, you can take a year out and work (Preferably in an environment with kids) to save up money and apply after a gap year.

Overall, you've absolutely got a chance. Make sure to smash the GCSEs, personal statement and interview (Your college should help you with this in Y12) as well as getting good A Level grades (You'll need 96 UCAS Tariff Points") and you've got a great chance. Best of luck!

Reply 2

alrowley18

6

Know how you actually fund to go to the Norland College.

I know you can get up to £10,000 bursary. If you are lucky and the student finance will pay a maximum of £6000 so how do you pay the rest of the fees?

Amy

Reply 3

Jane Louise 223

OP

4

Original post by alrowley18

Know how you actually fund to go to the Norland College.

I know you can get up to £10,000 bursary. If you are lucky and the student finance will pay a maximum of £6000 so how do you pay the rest of the fees?

Amy

Hi Amy,

Sorry!! I haven’t logged onto the student room in some time. Yes, the course is very expensive. I have two routes that I may be able to go down to find the course. 1) Get a private loan and pay it back once I’ve started earning after the course. 2) Ask my parents for a loan which I would pay off as soon as I had the money. Neither option is ideal as my parents would have to sell the house, but I really want to go so I am looking into all of the routes possible.

Year 11 student wanting to study at Norland College

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