ASSIGNMENTS!

More hand-ins and frazzled minds!

I honestly cannot keep up with the amount of assignments that have been handed in this month!

Salon Management, Health and Safety and Personal Professional Development to name a few!

As I stated in the previous post, as a class we are required to organise a Health Promotion Event for the final element for Working with and Leading People.

Claire and I teamed up to organise the fundraising element for the Health Promotion Event happening next month which I am really glad about, as I feel we are both like-minded and driven to get the job done so all runs smoothly on the day! 

I was able to get organised from the day we started the branded advertising for Marie Curie which was just as well as my Uncle had taken very ill in hospital!

Looking back on the year so far and reading my previous posts I really feel I have come a long way from the Sophie that entered Year 1 HND Beauty Management in Septemeber! I am currently sitting on distinctions for many of my assignments which I am ecstatic about, as I didn't think I would even be passing never mind hitting merits and distinctions. 

Firstly, my research skills have greatly improved and I find myself being able to access the relevant information for assignments virtually instantaneously and that I am taking control of my own learning in the research of additional training and potential job opportunities on completion of the course. 

I also feel I am able to critically reflect upon practical tasks I have completed both for assignments and in work to find areas of improvement as I am the type of person who wants to constantly do better. 

Secondly, I feel that through undertaking tasks that put me way out of my comfort zone, for example, being interviewed, delivering a presentation in front of the whole class and being a team leader in organizing the Health Promotion Event - has greatly improved my interpersonal skills and the way I lead and communicate to a team and other people. 

Overall I feel that I am constantly improving how I do things and I am now able to adapt things to suit my personal learning style to increase the amount of information I will actually retain!

It will also be interesting to see if I can keep up this journal writing and how I improve next year. 

Guest Speakers and Presentations

What an interesting month!
It started off with a talk from Una Brennan the renowned facialist based in Notting Hill, who previously attended BMC. 
It was really interesting to hear a journey from someone who had completed the same course as we are doing and it also sparked a few thoughts about what I could achieve after course completion! 
I have a keen interest in massage and holistic therapies, and I was really surprised to hear how much manual draining and massage there is in delivering a facial. So I am now looking into doing a part-time facial course next academic year if the timetable allows it!

There was also a talk from Tracey McAloney in regards to the OCN course provided by Macmillan Cancer to train in adaptive treatments for cancer patients. I really have a keen interest in that area as I fundraise for Marie Curie Cancer Care through various treks and zipline challenges and have currently raised over £7000 in 2 years. 
Again  it is something I would really like to look into further upon course completion as I used to volunteer on the wards up in the local Hospice and it would be amazing to be able to provide treatments to patients to alleviate symptoms and induce a sense of relaxation and wellbeing. I just hope I gain a place on the course at the end of the year!!

Additionally I had to produce a presentation on Self Directed Learning for my second Personal Professional Development assignment. Again I have a real fear of speaking in front of people in a formal setting, it was rather stressful but I was so glad to get it out of the way - and its a skill I can definitely improve on for next year. 

I still cannot get over how fast this course is flying in and next month again is going to be pretty busy with a Health Promotion event to organise!