“I’ve always loved sports. This apprenticeship allows me to share my passion to inspire children and encourage them to be active and lead healthy lives.”
We had a chat with Neil Douglas who has just completed his Level 3 School Sports Assistant apprenticeship at Prince Rock Primary School and has exciting plans for the future.
“I chose to do an apprenticeship as I wanted the hands-on experience and practice. At the school, I led PE lessons across all years from Foundation to Year 6 and SEN pupils. I taught a number of sports including dodgeball, football and rugby to help increase the children’s fitness and improve their inter-personal skills such as working as a team.
“Some aspects of the job were challenging, such as managing children’s behaviour. However this also made the job more rewarding – for example, when I had successes or breakthroughs with the children.
“I want to stay in sports education in the future. I’m now working as a paddleboard instructor for the summer and am starting a Physical Education degree at Marjon University in September.
“I would definitely recommend the apprenticeship route, as it offers the chance to gain so much practical, on-the-job experience. It also makes you appreciate how different all the children are – one approach definitely doesn’t work for all, so you need to be adaptable. My advice to anyone thinking of doing an apprenticeship would be to follow your gut feeling and go for it!”
Well done and good luck Neil!