Apprenticeships are child’s play at Harpers Nursery School

Harpers Nursery School in Blunham offers care and education for children aged from six weeks to five years and has achieved a grade of outstanding in all areas from Ofsted.

Six months ago Nursery Deputy Manager, Linda Stead took on Danielle Hartley as a Children’s Care Learning and Development Apprentice after being approached by Bedford College.  Linda said,

“Danielle is our first ever apprentice, so to begin with we knew nothing about the scheme but the College took us through how Apprenticeships worked and the benefits to us as employers.”

Linda explained that the Nursery has always encouraged their staff to undertake training and gain qualifications to help them with their work but that the Apprenticeship scheme offered a great opportunity to students as the Government helps to fund Danielle’s NVQ Level 2 in Childcare qualification.

Danielle works as a typical nursery practitioner and is involved in the daily aspects of caring for children ensuring that they are looked after, kept active, happy, nourished in addition to helping them develop social and practical skills.  Danielle’s apprentice training helps her learn the ‘hows and whys’ of child development and she can put her learning into practice when she is back at work.  Since she started her Apprenticeship her confidence and knowledge have increased considerably.  Linda said:

“One of the things that makes the Apprenticeship scheme particularly effective is that Danielle hasn’t picked up any bad habits elsewhere, so she learns best practice at College and then we can teach her the ‘Harpers Nursery way’ of doing things when she’s at work.”  Linda added,

“We’ve also been impressed with the contact and communication from Bedford College. Danielle’s assessor is really approachable and comes in regularly to update me on her progress and to take us both through what her next steps will be.” 

“We would definitely consider taking on another apprentice in future, as the scheme proves how much young people have to offer with the right guidance and training in place.”

To find out more about Apprenticeships, speak to a Business Development Adviser on 0300 011 23 44