• Ideal for someone looking to pursue a career as an Early Years Practitioner, Nursery practitioner, Classroom assistant.
• Suitable for either someone already working in or someone looking for a career in, an early years childcare and education setting.

• There is a high level of support from your Apprenticeship Tutor with monthly visits and 1:1 taught lessons
• There are monthly start dates – it does not run as per the typical academic year
• The Apprenticeship tutor will visit your setting, no need to go to a college
• Work is submitted using Bud, the cutting-edge online platform, which is easy to use and includes login access for employers to keep track of their apprentice’s progress

Your employer must give you time during your working hours each week for activities and learning towards your apprenticeship. This is called Off-the-Job training. For 30 hours or more, this will be an average of 6 hours per week, that can be spread out in any way that suits yourself and your setting. 

Examples of Off-the-Job training includes: 

The End-Point assessment will be carried out by an external organisation. Your Apprenticeship Tutor will make sure that you are prepared for these assessments throughout your apprenticeship with mock assessments and support. The EPA will consist of: 

Assessment 1: Observation with questioning in the workplace. This will be a 50 minute observation with 30 minutes of questioning. 

Assessment 2: Professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio of evidence, carried out in the workplace or over video conference. This will be 90 minutes and consist of 10 questions. 

You will receive a grade of fail, pass, merit or distinction for these assessments. If you receive a fail, there is an opportunity to resit in agreement with your employer. Please note: the employer will be responsible for any costs incurred.

There are no previous qualifications needed for this course and no age restrictions.

Apprentices must have:

• Support from your employer and levy account holder
• Be able to complete Level 1 English and maths whilst on programme
• Must have held a residency in the UK for the last three years
• Candidates must be working and interacting on a daily basis with children in the birth to 5 age range in accordance with the EYFS, the setting must be delivering the EYFS learning and development requirements

• This 14-month apprenticeship costs £4,000 but can be delivered at no cost to you or your setting if your setting is an Apprenticeship Levy payer
• If your setting doesn’t pay into the Apprenticeship Levy Fund, the government will pay 95% of your fees, with your setting contributing just 5%, which is £200. More details can be found on the Government website
• Contact our friendly apprenticeship team to confirm the availability of funding for your setting
  
  

Employer Incentive

An employer incentive payment of £1,000 is available for new apprentices aged 16 to 18 and those under 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Apprenticeship Levy Transfer

If an employer pays into the Apprenticeship Levy and has unspent funds, they can transfer up to 25% of that contribution to another employer. That means you can benefit from the levy-contributions of a different organisation to cover the full costs of an apprenticeship for a member of your team.

Organisations who are actively willing to transfer unspent funds can be viewed on the pledge page. Learn more about the Apprenticeship Levy Transfer on the Government website.

Are you looking to do an apprenticeship?

If you are employed within a setting...
Please check that your employer is supportive of you going on programme and then apply directly here. When you submit an application with your setting’s details, an employer declaration will automatically be sent across for them to complete.

Apply Now

If you are not employed within a setting...

Please look at our list of vacancies that we are currently recruiting for throughout the country.  Our recruitment team will then be in touch to book an online screening interview. If you are deemed successful at this stage, your details will be sent to the employer, who will then decide whether to book you in for an in person formal interview or work trial.

Find an Apprenticeship

If you do not find a vacancy which is within your area, do not worry!
Simply apply for our programme here and our recruitment team will be in touch to book an online screening interview. If you are deemed successful at this stage, we will support you in finding a setting local to you.

Apply Now

Are you an employer and looking for an apprentice?

If you want to train your current staff members through an apprenticeship, ask them to apply through our Apprenticeship Recruitment.

If you are looking for apprentices and want us to find candidates in your area, fill out our vacancy form. This will help us customise the candidates to your specific needs.

To recruit on your behalf, our team will:

• Collect applications for your vacancy every week
• Conduct screening interviews to determine if the candidates are suitable for the role and the apprenticeship programme
• Successful candidates will be sent to you with their CV, application, and interview notes. You can then decide whether to invite them for a formal interview or work trial
• Once you offer a candidate a position and they accept, we will help you to enrol your candidate onto our programme and help you access funding.

Tell us about your vacancies