Students and staff from Redcar & Cleveland College have been on a life-changing learning experience to childcare projects in Romania.

 

The 22 Students and four staff from the BTEC National Diploma in Early Years and the Children’s Care, Learning and Development courses at Redcar & Cleveland College spent six days in Oradea in western Romania.

 

Invited by the Caminul Felix charity to help out at their two family villages for abandoned and neglected children at Oradea, the students had the opportunity to put their child development knowledge and care skills into practice in challenging environments. The group worked with local gypsy families and their children, who have limited access to support and education, to promote child development.

 

Angela McLean, Head of the Health and Wellbeing Division at Redcar & Cleveland College explained more, “The idea behind the international visits is to improve our students’ employability skills, and help them to become more rounded individuals by bringing them away from the environments they take for granted. During our experience in Romania we saw our students bond with each other and Romanian people. Their time there was full of laughter, joy and tears.”

 

Irene Walker, Lecturer in Early Years said, “We all experienced a complete change of culture and lifestyle, students grew in maturity quickly and brought back new skills and experiences that will stay with them for ever.”

 

Emma Stephenson, Lecturer in Early Years said, “The trip widened students life experiences giving them the opportunity to travel abroad for the first time.”

 

Claire Barwick, Lecturer in Health and Social Care said, “The trip was an emotional, life-changing experience for the students.”

 

The students hope to pass on some of the lessons and experiences from their Romanian visit to children at nurseries and schools in the area. Their plan is to talk to children about what they did in Romania, and future visits, through photo diaries using teddy bears purchased for them by the College from the Daisy Chain Special Needs Charity in Norton.

 

The visit to Romania ties into the College’s plans to extend links to other learning centres and projects around the world that will expand and enrich the learning experience for students and staff.

 

Future visits are currently being explored for the childcare and health students at Redcar & Cleveland College that include China, Poland and Argentina. Fundraising activities will support these events. The team would value any sponsorship or donations to support these exciting and valuable events for students.

 

The Staff and students at the College would like to thank the following for their sponsorship of the visit to Romania: Sir William Turner Trust, Aimhigher North East, Rowley’s Tyres Middlesbrough; the Freemasons: Saltscar Lodge and Redcar Mark Lodge; Corus (Redcar and Scunthorpe) who provided goody bags for the Romanian children; and Tesco, Morrison and Asda who all gave students the opportunity to bag pack to raise funds for their visit to Romania.

 

The students organised events such as tombolas, raffles and sports activities on the beach at Redcar to raise additional funds to finance their trip.