Personal Achiever of the Year Award
(16-18)

Donna is an apprentice at NuNu Day Nursery, looking after babies and young children. She is responsible for settling the children upon their arrival, reading to them and encouraging learning, as well as feeding, changing them and putting them down to sleep. Donna also ensures that the older children are well looked after, and keeps the workplace clean and tidy.

Donna has overcome significant challenges to achieve success in her career. Born profoundly deaf and partially blind, she has had to work extremely hard throughout her life to overcome these disabilities. Her grasp of lip-reading is excellent, and improving every day, and she is shortly to start a sign language course with her mother.

Donna has always wanted to work with children, appreciating that they do not discriminate on account of her difficulties to communicate. Donna had prior experience in working in nurseries before joining NuNu Day Nursery, which has been helpful in achieving her Level 2 qualification. She is now working towards her NVQ Level 3 and loves being in full-time employment as an Apprentice. She says: “I feel that if I can get to my goal which is to get to Level 3, with my disabilities then I feel I have achieved something for myself and others like me.”

Donna has not just achieved success in her career, she is also a keen Irish Dancer, which she has been doing since the age of nine, and has won a championship – a fact of which she is rightly very proud.