Students invite Jack in a Box for an immersive day at College 

EKC Dover College was delighted to invite key stakeholders, Jack in a Box nursery on site for an exciting day of activities. The event was planned and facilitated by our Early Years students, giving them the opportunity to put all they’d learnt throughout the year into practice and help build their confidence when working with young children.  

Having undertaken months of planning, the students worked with College staff to ensure the programme of activities was appropriate for the age group. They were also tasked with considering health and safety, risk assessments, logistics and catering to ensure the event could be a success. 

As the group of six children arrived, they were greeted by Travel and Tourism students and invited into the Aeroplane Simulation Suite where students replicated a real airport experience.  

Each child was given a plane ticket prior to going through ‘security’, listened to the flight safety demonstration, and snack time was even incorporated into the lunch service mid-flight. Children were also provided with “spending money” to purchase EKC Dover College branded sunglasses from the duty-free shop, which went down a treat!

Once the flight was over and children were ‘back on land’ they were treated to a tea party style lunch, prepared by Early Years staff and students, before an exciting afternoon of more activities and games. 

The latter part of the day had to been planned meticulously by Early Years students, who had created their own activity stations for children to visit.  

The students used all they’ve learnt during the year to create engaging games to promote the children’s cognitive development, including searching for shells in the sand pit, using “money” to purchase ice creams, and identifying animal pairs.  

The children were free to roam the stations as they pleased, really immersing themselves in the activities or role play that was required. 

To finish the day, the students led parachute games and pass-the-parcel, which proved popular, before one Early Years student, Kira, was selected to read a story to complete the day. Afterwards she explained: “this time last year I would never have had the confidence to read in front of other people, so I’m proud that I pushed myself to do it. The children were really engaged and enjoyed it, so it’s great to have been such a big part of their day”. 

As the children left there were smiles all round. The Jack in a Box nursery staff were complimentary of the day and how activities had been targeted perfectly for the age of the children, who were all eager to go home and tell their grown-ups about their day.  

On speaking with the Early Years students afterwards, it was clear they were happy with how the day had gone. Spirits were high and they were proud of what they’d achieved, with Jess saying: “that was so much fun. It was lovely to see how happy the children were. It made all the planning worthwhile”. 

Callum from Jack in a Box nursery said: “As a Tier 1 employee for EKC Dover College, we believe it is essential to collaborate closely with the next generation of various industries, such as Early Years and Travel and Tourism.  

“The children had an incredible time, and we are very grateful to Tanya, Sasha and the Principal of EKC Dover College for organising an outstanding day for everyone. We look forward to more events like this in the near future.” 

Interested in working with children? Consider our Early Years Practitioner course.