Portstewart's Casey urges students to prioritise future ambition

Casey Doran studied at the College’s Ballymoney Campus and has since progressed to Edge Hill University in Ormskirk to study Primary Early Years Education with Qualified Teacher Status.

Now in second year at university, Casey, said: “I received good GSCE grades and was able to progress to sixth form at school, but I didn’t like the subjects I was studying.”

Since Casey had always wanted to become a teacher, she prioritised this goal and investigated what she would need to progress to university and do a teaching degree.

She decided to leave school and attend Northern Regional College to do Level 3 Diploma in Children’s Care Learning and Development, which is a vocational course designed to equip learners with specific skills and knowledge required for working in Early Years.

Casey admitted that while it was a difficult decision to make, it was the right one for her.

She explained: “Leaving my friends at school to start a new course at NRC where I wouldn’t know anyone in my class was difficult but, after looking at the content of the Level 3 Diploma and the different subjects I would be studying, I was really excited.”

The BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma is recognised as an academic equivalent of three A levels but Casey was also impressed by the professional practice opportunities offered by the vocational course which gave students valuable experience of working in different workplace settings.

She continued: “The placements supported my journey to becoming a teacher as they gave me a good insight into what it was like to work with different age groups. This helped me realise what my favourite age range and decide what I wanted to focus on at university.

“While on placement, we were encouraged to create activity plans and took part in observations and created assessments for the children. This experience has been vital to my success at university.”

Casey’s hard work has paid off as she was the recipient of two scholarships: a High Achievers Scholarship for her BTEC Diploma results and an Excellence Scholarship, for her work outside of her BTEC studies, which included her time spent with children of different abilities and disabilities.

For further information www.nrc.ac.uk