Simmies Spotlight: Graduate Helps Parents During Lockdown

In today’s Simmie Spotlight we look at St Mary’s University, Twickenham alumna Amy-Louise Peach, who is creating content to help people looking after children on her YouTube channel Little Learners.

Amy, who studied her Undergraduate, PGCE and Masters at St Mary’s, launched Little Learners in 2017 to help parents, guardians and teachers with creative lessons for children in early education. Since then, Little Learners has grown to a community of almost 50000 subscribers, where Amy shares her regular video updates.

Talking about her inspiration for the channel Amy said, “When I became a teacher I realised that a lot of parents want to be involved in their child's education but don't know how to go about it. Terms like 'phonics', 'fine motor skills' and the different areas of development can be confusing, and I wanted to empower parents by creating content that can help them support their child's learning.

“I quickly found that not only parents but also teachers, childcare providers, trainee teachers and those learning English as an additional language were watching my videos. The channel has evolved to keep all of these audiences in mind”

Following the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19), Amy started to receive requests from her subscribers to develop content around the subject. Since then Amy has published a video to help explain to her followers how they should talk to children about the subject, and has continued to make useful tools to help parents and guardians keep their children entertained and intellectually stimulated whilst schools are closed.

Amy’s top tips for looking after children during the lockdown are, "Don't feel like you have to fill the entire day with 'sit-down learning'.  For young children, play is essential in developing key skills. Keep any planned activities as fun and engaging as possible.  Remember: you don't have to reinvent the wheel! Read books, explore numbers and shapes, use sensory play and if you are able, spend some time outside. Following your child's interests is a great way to keep them engaged with their learning.'

Share Your Stories

We want to share your YouTube channels, social media accounts and stories with the St Mary’s community. If you or a Simmie you know is doing something special to help other people during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions, please let us know by email at press.office@stmarys.ac.uk.