In 2001 the School of Education introduced a new P-10 Education course, and a major aspect in this was the introduction of practicum for First Year students within three weeks of starting their course. Evaluations of this have suggested that this is a move that has been enthusiastically embraced by students and in 2002 we have worked on what has been established to extend and develop the experience for First Years by means of systematic construction of a community of practice to support their development as emergent professionals. To build the sort of community of practice that we envisaged, we turned to Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP), action research models, and reflective practice to inform our work to make the practicum as meaningful as possible to First Years as emergent professionals.