Welcome to my blog about my experiences working in early childhood. I have called it Nurturing Forests because I believe that raising children is not a isolated activity but takes a whole community.



As early childhood professionals, we are actively involved in this process but we also need to work closely with the children, parents, community as a whole and other allied professionals.



I hope you enjoy my site. I also have a facebook site of the same name where I provide links to useful sites for teachers, parents and others interested in the early childhood: www.facebook.com/nurturingforests



Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Moving on - Leaving my chickens behind

I'm about to embark on a new adventure and start a new job on Monday.

However, sadly, this means that I will be leaving my lovely children, parents and colleagues.

In my old career I use to do a lot of contracting so I'm reasonably used to moving onto new pastures (luckily, facebook helps me keep in contact).

But this is the first time I have been with these children and families for over 8 months. I have built a wonderfully close relationship with the children and their parents it will be a shame to leave them. I know what their (many) faces mean, I can predict their behaviour and I know what they love and what makes them laugh - I love turning up to work and hearing "hello Wendy" echo around the hall from the toddler room and my room.

Unfortunately, my particular working conditions meant I had to move on.

I have written all of my children a little card and been giving them out throughout the week to let them know I will miss them and that I love them. I tried to include something about their personalities in the card to make it unique for them

However, it is tricky territory - at all times I need to ensure that I am not telling parents or the children to come to my new centre.

In HR, we call it restraint of trade - basically if you move on you can't poach your clients (usually for 6mths but if you are in a very senior position it can be for years). There doesn't seem to be anything like this in the industry but out of respect for my boss I have self imposed it.

How do you manage moving on to a new job?
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2 comments:

  1. Mullin Avenue WorkshopFebruary 27, 2011 at 12:19 PM

    All the best at your new job! I have moved around a bit in the past 6 years, I wanted to work at temporary positions to learn what was available and where I might want to find a home. (I had worked in one center for 16 years and felt the need for a change)So I worked mainly for people off on maternity leaves. It was hard to leave my children, so I think I know how you will miss them.I've now found a more permanent home where I've been happy to be for 3 years so I am grateful for the experiences of learning about new centers, and finding different ways of operating.

    All the best, thank you for your blog, I thoroughly enjoy reading it, and agree 100% with your direction.

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  2. UnknownFebruary 27, 2011 at 5:04 PM

    Hi

    Thanks for your support and I am glad your enjoying my blog, I'm really enjoying writing it - best idea i've ever had I think.

    I always find new centres always offer something new and exciting -even if you need to look very hard for it :)

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