Hello everyone! My name is Katie and I am the newest and shiniest member of the Learning Experience Lead team at HEY CU. This month was my first month in my new job role as LEL and has been a major career change for me as a I previously worked as a Primary Teacher for over ten years. With this mind, I thought my first blog would be a fantastic way to tell you about the exciting changes that have happened to me this month and how my transition between careers has been so far!
In previous blogs, Shaun and Alan have talked about how our job role involves leading experiences for children and working behind the scenes at the charity to ensure we provide ‘ACE’ trips. In my first blog, in addition to telling you about the learning experiences, I hope to inspire those reading to take a leap of faith and consider making a career change into a job role like mine as LEL, work in the children’s charity sector or just try something new like volunteering.
My first week started in the HEY CU offices at Swale House on the Hull University Campus, settling into a new place and working closely with my line manager, Rebecca, who helped with my induction. Everyone in the office has been hugely welcoming and open with the understanding that no question is a silly question (which I had many of!), Whilst there were a few technical hiccups with ICT at first, with help from Chris, our amazing Admin Lead, we got my email, laptop and ID sorted and I was ready to work!
It was lovely to meet two of my fellow LELs, Shaun and Alan, and chat with them with Rebecca about our goals for the upcoming year and the ‘ACE’ trips ahead, as I will be spending some time shadowing them closely. It’s an exciting time for HEY CU as our schools' programme has been adapted and improved this year to ensure that the ACE schools that we work with have access to all of our trips each year: Ambassadors, York, Trawling, Blitz, London and Edinburgh. This means that every year group from Year 3 to 6 will be guaranteed one trip a year! I can’t wait to see some of our ‘ACE’ Year 3 children over the next four years as they progress on our programme and see them through their journeys and build strong relationships with the schools.
As an LEL, we can be on different experiences and working with lots of other LELs and volunteers at different times in the year. Luckily, in the first week I met some of the LELs in our team meeting such as Phil, Andy and Kath and we reflected on what kind of people we are and how we like to work within our job roles. It was nice to see how we are all different and how we can all complement each other. After some deep reflection, we had a lovely lunch on campus, and I found out some useful tips and heard some wonderful stories about previous experiences. What a nice perk to the job!
I must admit that after week 1 my brain was full of both excitement and trepidation a few times but quickly dissolved by how embracing everyone has been and how fun the office is to work in! By week 2, myself, Shaun and Alan’s week was packed with Blitz and EcoHub trips. As part of this, I got my first visit to Thwaite Gardens in Cottingham, which is kindly given to us by Hull University, and involves schools exploring the gardens and learning about biodiversity and ecosystems. It has been wonderful to see so many children appreciating the open space and just being children.
The end of my second week ended in a wholesome wellbeing day ‘Being in the moment,’ whereby the whole HEY CU team spent the day at Artlink on Princes Avenue, getting to know each other, sharing photos of special moments and enjoying making collage flowers to prepare for our 30th Anniversary celebrations at HEY CU next year. It was a great way to spend time with colleagues who I might not see everyday in the office or on school trips.
By week 3 and 4, all our schedules sped up and we were taking children on Ecohub and Blitz trips as well as visiting all the schools that we are working with this year and meeting all the children. I’ve spent a lot of time shadowing Shaun and Alan and started to lead parts of the trips, which has made me feel proud of myself. A great highlight of these weeks was my trip to HFR Solutions CIC in Hessle with Quay Academy and taking part in lots of practical activities like fighting fires with extinguishers, climbing through small spaces, emergency First Aid and being hoisted up into the air! The pupils were so enthusiastic and animated the whole day, thanks to the HFR staff and their planned activities.
Right at the end of the month, I experienced my first Ambassadors of Hull trip at the KCOM Learning Zone with Alan and Keith, which was interesting as Iearnt lots of new things about Hull that I didn’t know, even though I’ve lived here all my life!
The end of the month was round up with my 1:1 meeting with Rebecca which was really positive and I’m looking forward to all the challenges coming my way next month even though the calendar is jam-packed with trips, school visits and our annual charity ball in October. I think I’d better start looking for a glamourous outfit to wear!
I hope that this month’s blog has been a useful insight into my first month as a LEL at Hull and East Yorkshire Children’s University and inspired or piqued the interest of someone who might be thinking of making a big career change soon or taking up volunteering for a local charity. Honestly, the thought of me leaving one job to start another different one after I accepted the position, left me feeling anxious and panicked that I had made the wrong decision for a short time. Nevertheless, it was the best and right decision for me at the time and I can say, hand on heart, that HEY CU is an amazing place to work: my colleagues are a superb team and the work that the charity does changes children’s lives.
Stay tuned for my next blog which I promise will have more interesting stories about trips like York, what my first Christmas at HEY CU will be like and what new and interesting things I learn along the way in my training.
Katie, Learning Experience Lead