Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner Apprenticeship - The Royal Masonic School for Girls
INSPIRE ATA LIMITED
Rickmansworth (WD3 4HF)
Closes in 17 days (Monday 26 January 2026 at 11:59pm)
Posted on 8 January 2026
Contents
Summary
This Early Years Lead Practitioner role focuses on supporting 2-4-year-old children through nurturing relationships, creative play, and strong EYFS knowledge, within a high-quality setting that offers excellent outdoor spaces and ongoing professional development.
- Wage
-
£15,704 for your first year, then could increase depending on your age
National Minimum Wage rate for apprentices
- Training course
- Early years lead practitioner (level 5)
- Hours
-
Monday to Friday, 8:00am, to 5:00pm, with a 1-hour break.
40 hours a week
- Start date
-
Monday 2 February 2026
- Duration
-
2 years
- Positions available
-
1
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
- Be relentlessly committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, strictly adhering to the School’s Safeguarding and Child Protection policies at all times
- Act as a Key Person for a designated cohort of children, responsible for their individual care, development, and progress tracking
- Collaborate effectively with the Early Years Leaders to plan and deliver a rich, stimulating, and enabling curriculum in line with the EYFS Statutory Framework (latest version)
- Lead the learning environment within your assigned classroom and outdoor area, ensuring it is purposeful, inclusive, and rich in spontaneous learning opportunities
- Model and encourage high standards of personal hygiene, self-care, and independence (including supporting with toileting/nappy changing as required)
- Diligently monitor, assess, and evaluate children's learning journeys, using accurate observations to inform and plan for their next steps in development
- Build strong, positive relationships with parents/carers of your Key Children, acting as the primary point of contact to provide regular, constructive feedback on progress
- Actively participate in the rota for Early Club, Late Club, and Holiday Camps as required by the needs of the setting
- Attend Open Days, staff meetings, and engage proactively in ongoing professional development and performance review
- Adhere to all Health and Safety Regulations and maintain exemplary standards of professional conduct and personal presentation
Where you'll work
Rickmansworth Park
Rickmansworth
WD3 4HF
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
LET ME PLAY LIMITED
Training course
Early years lead practitioner (level 5)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Advocate for children through their child centred approach, listening to the voice of the child; ensuring children’s rights, views and wishes are heard, respected and acted upon at all times. Offer appropriate support and influence decisions in the best interests of the child.
- Develop, model and implement strategies to support the emotional, social, psychological, physical and cultural needs of all children within the educational setting.
- Support and promote children’s diverse speech, language and communication development and determining and adapting appropriate responses and interventions to support verbal, nonverbal interactions and engagement with written communication.
- Support children to engage in a range of learning contexts such as individual, small groups and larger groups as appropriate for their play and support confidence within social experiences.
- Engage in effective strategies to develop and extend children's learning and thinking, including sustained shared thinking.
- Promote, model and support children and families to develop a healthy approach to making choices relating to personal care including eating, sleeping and physical activity.
- Analyse and articulate how all children’s individual learning can be affected by their current developmental capabilities, characteristics and individual circumstances taking into account all factors contributing to typical and atypical development.
- Ensure plans fully reflect the individual development needs and circumstances of children and actively participate in the provision of consistent care, responding quickly to the needs of the individual child.
- Plan, carry out and guide appropriate personal care routines for individual children.
- Competently action and carry out safeguarding procedures, using their professional curiosity, knowledge, insight and understanding.
- Explore and understand, challenge and question; knowing when to act to safeguard and protect children.
- Encourage all children’s participation, ensuring a sensitive, respectful and effective balance within the adult and child dynamic to facilitate play opportunities.
- Ensure staff are deployed effectively to suit and enhance the learning environment, prioritising the safety and wellbeing of all children.
- Cultivate professional partnerships with parents, carers, colleagues and other professionals, presenting their understanding of the child’s journey within multidisciplinary teams to holistically support the child’s individual needs.
- Demonstrate the importance of the home learning environment, developing an effective and collaborative partnership to enhance opportunities for the child.
- Provide a dynamic, evolving and enabling environment that reflects the current interests, motivations, and play of individual and groups of children.
- Use current and contemporary knowledge, research, theories and approaches to develop, enhance and articulate their own pedagogical approach and practice.
- Observe, assess, plan, facilitate and participate in play opportunities which include current curriculum requirements.
- Make use of formative and summative assessment, tracking children’s progress to plan for future learning possibilities including early interventions based on individual developmental needs.
- Take responsibility for supporting the key person in articulating children's progress and planning future learning possibilities including the safe use of digital technology to communicate effectively in both oral and written English.
- Promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice.
- Be a leaderful practitioner to support, mentor, coach, train and guide colleagues in a range of educational settings, providing inspiration and motivation to engage others to develop their practice, supporting teams and guiding change.
- Identify, action and competently challenge issues and undertake difficult conversations where appropriate.
- Use reflection to develop themselves both professionally and personally to enhance their practice.
- Ensure the security and confidentiality of data, records and information in line with current legislation.
- Identify and act upon own responsibilities in relation to health and safety, prevention and control of infection, carrying out risk assessments and risk management processes in line with policies and procedures.
- Apply the principles of sustainability and segregate used resources for reuse, recycling, and safe disposal .
- Advocate for children through their child centred approach, listening to the voice of the child; ensuring children’s rights, views and wishes are heard, respected and acted upon at all times. Offer appropriate support and influence decisions in the best interests of the child.
- Develop, model and implement strategies to support the emotional, social, psychological, physical and cultural needs of all children within the educational setting.
- Support and promote children’s diverse speech, language and communication development and determining and adapting appropriate responses and interventions to support verbal, nonverbal interactions and engagement with written communication.
- Support children to engage in a range of learning contexts such as individual, small groups and larger groups as appropriate for their play and support confidence within social experiences.
- Engage in effective strategies to develop and extend children's learning and thinking, including sustained shared thinking.
- Promote, model and support children and families to develop a healthy approach to making choices relating to personal care including eating, sleeping and physical activity.
- Analyse and articulate how all children’s individual learning can be affected by their current developmental capabilities, characteristics and individual circumstances taking into account all factors contributing to typical and atypical development.
- Ensure plans fully reflect the individual development needs and circumstances of children and actively participate in the provision of consistent care, responding quickly to the needs of the individual child.
- Plan, carry out and guide appropriate personal care routines for individual children.
- Competently action and carry out safeguarding procedures, using their professional curiosity, knowledge, insight and understanding.
- Explore and understand, challenge and question; knowing when to act to safeguard and protect children.
- Encourage all children’s participation, ensuring a sensitive, respectful and effective balance within the adult and child dynamic to facilitate play opportunities.
- Ensure staff are deployed effectively to suit and enhance the learning environment, prioritising the safety and wellbeing of all children.
- Cultivate professional partnerships with parents, carers, colleagues and other professionals, presenting their understanding of the child’s journey within multidisciplinary teams to holistically support the child’s individual needs.
- Demonstrate the importance of the home learning environment, developing an effective and collaborative partnership to enhance opportunities for the child.
- Provide a dynamic, evolving and enabling environment that reflects the current interests, motivations, and play of individual and groups of children.
- Use current and contemporary knowledge, research, theories and approaches to develop, enhance and articulate their own pedagogical approach and practice.
- Observe, assess, plan, facilitate and participate in play opportunities which include current curriculum requirements.
- Make use of formative and summative assessment, tracking children’s progress to plan for future learning possibilities including early interventions based on individual developmental needs.
- Take responsibility for supporting the key person in articulating children's progress and planning future learning possibilities including the safe use of digital technology to communicate effectively in both oral and written English.
- Promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice.
- Be a leaderful practitioner to support, mentor, coach, train and guide colleagues in a range of educational settings, providing inspiration and motivation to engage others to develop their practice, supporting teams and guiding change.
- Identify, action and competently challenge issues and undertake difficult conversations where appropriate.
- Use reflection to develop themselves both professionally and personally to enhance their practice.
- Ensure the security and confidentiality of data, records and information in line with current legislation.
- Identify and act upon own responsibilities in relation to health and safety, prevention and control of infection, carrying out risk assessments and risk management processes in line with policies and procedures.
- Apply the principles of sustainability and segregate used resources for reuse, recycling, and safe disposal .
Training schedule
Early Years Lead Practitioner Level 5.
Requirements
Essential qualifications
Other in:
Desirable qualifications
GCSE in:
- English (grade A to C/4 to 9)
- Mathematics (grade A to C/4 to 9)
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Problem solving skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
Other requirements
Pre-employment checks. Please be aware that upon a successful offer of employment, the company completes digitalised right-to-work checks and DBS applications via an external provider - 'Matrix Screening'. The company also completes an internal online social media search, in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance.
About this employer
Inspire ATA is an official Flexi-Job Apprenticeship Agency, licenced by the Department for Education. Currently ranked 1st in the Rate My Apprenticeship Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers in the UK Award 2024-2025. Inspire ATA specialises in creating apprenticeship opportunities, where we recruit and employ the apprentice on behalf of our host clients, enabling us to offer additional support and a better experience for both the apprentice and the client as the experts in the industry. We arrange the most suitable and appropriate apprenticeship training from one of our partnered training providers. If you are successful in securing an apprenticeship with Inspire ATA, it is important to understand that Inspire ATA will be your employer and the apprenticeship placement will be a separate organisation that simply hosts you as an apprentice. As a Flexi-Job Apprenticeship Agency, Inspire ATA performs an important role in developing the UK labour market and it is our responsibility to ensure that talent is recognised, developed, and matched with business needs, whatever the background of the individual, irrespective of gender, race, disability, age, religion or belief, relationship orientation, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity and gender reassignment. We are proud of the diverse nature of our business and work with clients to ensure that all candidates are treated with courtesy and respect.
Company benefits
Amazing discounts: eligible for an NUS card, apprenticeship travel discounts, and special rates at places like Nando’s, ASOS, and Vue cinema. Regular pay rise after 12 months, prizes, and vouchers for Apprentice of the Month!
After this apprenticeship
Potential full-time employment for the right candidate upon successful completion of the apprenticeship.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
LET ME PLAY LIMITED
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000007471.
Apply now
Closes in 17 days (Monday 26 January 2026 at 11:59pm)