SERC Childhood Studies Student Sylvia Progresses Career with Foundation Course

The Prize was awarded to Sylvia for attaining the highest level of academic achievement among all Queens University Belfast (QUB) Foundation Degree in Early Childhood Studies students across the 6 Regional Colleges in Northern Ireland. 

Sylvia Yue is originally from Hong Kong. Since her son was born in 2016, she has developed an interest in early childhood education. After doing research online and comparing different courses, Sylvia identified that SERC was the best pathway for her to continue her education. She started her education journey at SERC Newtownards in 2017, studying on the CACHE Level 3 Diploma Course in Children’s Care, Learning and Development, and from there progressed onto the QUB Foundation Degree in Childhood Studies, where she won the Prize for Excellence for her outstanding academic achievement. 

On her course, Sylvia commented, “I enjoyed my Foundation Degree in Early Childhood Studies at SERC. Studying this part-time course over 3 years allowed me to strike a balance between work, study and family life. I loved the convenient location of the Newtownards campus, which allowed me to access the classes offered by QUB locally without excessive travel. The placement experiences of the course were invaluable, they helped me to put theories into practice, which is extremely important for working in early years settings. The Learning Resource Centre was also very useful, with lots of eBooks and online resources to help with my research.” 

Thinking about her time at SERC, Sylvia commented, “SERC creates an inclusive environment, which is particularly important for me. As a mature student with English not as my first language, I did wonder if I could fit in at the beginning. Fortunately, all the staff in SERC and my classmates were very kind and supportive. They were patient with me when at times I couldn’t find the right words to express myself. I truly appreciate the support I received from my tutors, especially our course coordinator Sarah Darragh, who went above and beyond to help us, especially during the lockdowns. I have also learned a lot from my classmates because all of them have experiences working in different educational settings; the conversations with them provided great insights into my studies and practice.” 

Sylvia concluded, “Doing this course has opened a lot of doors for me already and will continue to in my career in the future. In fact, I was employed as a nursery assistant during the third year of the Degree and now I am considering studying BA (Hons) in Early Childhood this year. I never thought I could do well in my studies while juggling multiple roles in my busy life, but I proved myself wrong. If I can do it, I am sure you can do it too. If you are interested in this Foundation Degree course or studying at SERC in general, I would say go for it!” 

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