• 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: 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. 

Assessment 2: Observation with questioning in the workplace. This will be a 50 minute observation with 30 minutes of questioning. 

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 (mandatory for ages 16-18)
• 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

Using Your Growth and Skills Levy

• The Early Years Practitioner Level 2 Apprenticeship can be funded through your setting's Growth and Skills Levy
• Funding can be reserved and allocated through your Apprenticeship Service (AS) account. If you don't yet have an AS account, we can support you with the setup process
• The apprenticeship costs £5000 and is funded through your setting's levy funds
  
  

If Your Levy Funds Have Been Used

• The government will fund 75% of the training cost (£3,750)
• Your setting will contribute the remaining 25% (£1,250)
  
  

If Your Setting Does Not Pay the Levy

• 100% government funding is available for apprentices aged 16-24
• For apprentices aged 25 and over, the government pays 95% of the training costs and your setting contributes just 5%
• Contact us for further information and guidance on available funding
  
  

Employer Incentive

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has introduced a targeted package of financial incentives to make recruiting young people into the education sector more accessible and cost-effective:

• 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
• £2,000 foundation apprenticeship incentive for hiring apprentices ages between 16-21 (22-24 for apprentices with an EHCP, care leavers, or prisoners or prison leavers)
• The DfE have introduced a cash incentive of up to £3,000 for hiring an apprentice aged 18-24 that has been on Universal Credit for 6 months
  
  

What is the Growth and Skills Levy?

• The levy is paid by employers with an annual payroll of more than £3 million. Employers contribute 0.5% of their annual pay bill into the levy
• Apprenticeship funding can be used for both new recruits and existing employees

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

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