Meet the Jesters Family at Beaulieu Nursery & Pre-School

Background
Hello! My name is Emily. I am an Early Years Assistant working in the Deer room at the Jesters Beaulieu setting.

Before I started working in the nursery, I trained in Performing Arts and completed a Higher National Diploma in Modern Music Vocals from the Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) and a Foundation and BA Honours Degree in Musical Theatre from The University of Chichester. Whilst on the course I completed a “Theatre in the Community” module performing the Ugly Duckling musical for primary school children. This made me think that I would like to work with children in the future. Once I had finished, I worked as an Early Years Musical Theatre teacher for Stagecoach and worked in a touring children’s pantomime company and performed in costume at private children’s parties. When I moved back to Essex, I worked for 4 years as a Learning Support Assistant in a Primary School. The first year there I worked in a year 4 class and then the remainder of my time was spent in an Early Years Reception Class. I worked with the whole class, 1:1 and in group scenarios with a range of children with varying degrees of behavioural and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

The Jesters Family
I joined the team at Jesters because I immediately felt a strong sense of community here and I could see how happy the adults and children were. I feel that Jesters is the perfect foundation for children starting their educational career and I enjoy being a part of the process.

Having experience in a Reception class I feel I am well versed in what is expected of young children before they make the big jump from Nursery to Primary School and I appreciate how integral this time in their life is to develop a healthy mindset and love for learning. I feel that by working at Jesters I can help facilitate them in making this transition as seamless and enjoyable as possible.

Helping young people to develop their own unique personalities and seeing them grown into polite, kind, confident and helpful individuals ready to go out into the wider world is my favourite part of the job!

Outside work
I have various hobbies and interests that I like to partake in when I am not working. These include dancing and singing, going to gigs, festivals and musicals and collecting vintage clothing. I love travelling and exploring new places and going to the beach with my boyfriend to walk our beloved Jack Russell Terrier Coco.

Favourite children’s book
My favourite children’s book is There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake by Hazel Edwards. When I was a little girl I read this book repeatedly, because my favourite animals are hippos, and the main character in the book is a little girl with short brown hair and my mum always used to tell me that she reminded her of me. Reading it again as an adult, I think what I found so enthralling when I was a child was the repetition in the story, the basic themes and illustrations and the imaginative language.

The premise of the story is about an imaginary hippo sitting on somebody’s roof, which makes it both inventive and comical to the reader. The hippo is reminiscent of an imaginary friend, which makes it very relatable because many children adopt these made-up relationships when they are younger. The hippo is quite mischievous and gets to do all the things that the little girl wishes she could do, but isn’t allowed, like watching television at night. Even though this book is nearly 50 years old, children still enjoy it as much today as they did then, proving that children are fundamentally still the same. They still don’t like taking baths, going to bed and would much rather eat cake than a healthy lunch!