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The Welsh language is very important at Hafan y Sêr.
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Most of the children and young people
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who come here speak Welsh as their first language.
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Their families speak Welsh as their first language.
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We're in quite a Welsh-speaking area here.
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The children who come here will feel more at home if they hear their mother tongue
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being spoken around them.
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Even if they’re non-verbal, it’s still important that
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they hear the language they’re used to hearing.
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We’re very lucky in Hafan y Sêr.
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We have a manager who is very keen to encourage staff to develop themselves.
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Every time there are opportunities and courses
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coming up, she shares this information with staff
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and encourages us to go for them.
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And then what happened was, the opportunity came up to do the Level 4 course.
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I had already done the Level 3 when I started my job here.
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It was nice to have that level of progression.
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I could see what I had done before.
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I could see how I was really pushing myself but it was worth it.
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I did the Level 4 professional practice
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on leading practice for disabled children.
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By doing the Level 4 course, I learned a lot that has become
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very relevant in my role as a senior worker.
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Things like supporting staff, things like supervision,
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and just gaining more understanding. I feel like I’ve gained a deeper understanding
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of the legislation that's in place in a role like this.
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I knew about them before from doing the Level 3.
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But by looking into them in more detail,
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things like the Social Services and Well-being Act
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they're so important for giving us a framework to be able to support
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the young people who are here, in a safe way.
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The assessor came here and set our tasks for us.
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She gave me a timeframe of about three weeks to a month to complete the assignments.
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And that was plenty of time — it was manageable.
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At the beginning I struggled a little with
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time management and organising my time effectively.
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And I would leave it until the last minute,
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and then I’d work myself up a bit.
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But I realised that wasn’t working for me.
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So I put things in place to manage my time more effectively.
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So I set time aside every week.
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I thought, “Right, I’m going to do about an hour of work now”,
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and then just break it down into smaller chunks.
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And that worked well for me.
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For the final project at the end of all the work,
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I chose to do active support.
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This is a subject that has been important to me
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since I started in Hafan y Sêr, to be honest.
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We received active support training in the first week of starting at Hafan y Sêr,
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and it really resonated with me.
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Active support simply encourages
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us as staff to support people and children to do
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things for themselves, where they are able.
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Help them do things for themselves.
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It’s just been an eye‑opener, and staff have seen,
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“Oh right, okay, active support isn’t something just to do as a chore.”
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It’s a way of life.
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It’s an approach to use to support the children throughout the day and every day.
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It has changed the system and the way we work for the better, I think.
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I think it has made a huge difference,
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and without doing the Level 4 and doing that work as part of the task,
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I don’t think this would have come to fruition as quickly as it has.
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When Sue is here with me, I will go out all day,
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and not play on my phone all the time.
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We would just go somewhere.
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I’m so happy together.
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I’ve also learnt more about myself.
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I’ve realised I can do something
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if I put my mind to it.
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And there’s potential to go further in my career.
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I didn’t think, when I started working at Hafan y Sêr,
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that I’d be in a senior role by now.
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But you can do more than you think.
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I am proud of myself for doing it.
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It has worked out really positively. I am pleased.
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I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity, to go for it because it’s worth it.
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It has been great.
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I have developed so much more confidence in doing it.
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Prepare, ask for help if you need it,
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and just focus on yourself and remember that you can do it,
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and you will.
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Yeah, go for it!