My interest has always been in Education. I’ve always had a love of learning, teaching, and development and knew this was the career path for me. Initially I thought to work in an Education environment I would need to train to become a teacher. Which is what I started to work towards. However during my learning and my gap year, what I wanted to do changed…

I began my journey pursuing a BA Honors degree in Education Studies, with a plan to then do a PGCE and eventually become a primary school teacher.  After I graduated, I decided I wanted to first take a gap year and work, to build up some work experience. I started my first “proper” job as I like to call it (as it was a 9-5), at the Royal College of General Practitioners. This was an amazing opportunity for me to pick up practical skills in a professional working environment such as, delivering presentations, liaising with trainee GP’s and being in a professional office environment.

I then moved on to working at the London Borough of Waltham Forest as a Business Support Officer, which once again was a great learning opportunity for me. Following that, a post at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists and following a period of time out to have children, I am now at Care City as a Project Support & Communications Officer.

So as you can see, my gap year turned into me not actually wanting to return and complete my PGCE. I had accumulated a wealth of knowledge from my working experience and decided I still wanted to be in Education but not a primary school teacher anymore. But looking to continue my career progression, I knew I needed to upskill further. So when I was presented with this amazing opportunity of an apprenticeship at Care City, which enabled me to not only gain experience as a Project Support and Communications Officer, working on a project that is focussed on East London workforce development, but also, obtain a level 4 Project management qualification, I was thrilled! This was the perfect opportunity for me to take the natural next step in my career, take a hands-on approach to learning whilst continuing to work and earn money to support my family. Plus it means when I am talking to young people in East London about the advantages of apprenticeships in health and social care, I can talk with first hand experience!