Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner apprenticeship
LITTLE PUMPKINS NURSERY LTD
LONDON (SE12 9JH)
Closes on Saturday 25 October 2025
Posted on 23 September 2025
Contents
Summary
This Level 5 apprenticeship training programme will develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours of early years practitioners to be proactive and influential. The learner will have exposure working in a senior role such as a Room Leader, Deputy Room Leader.
- Wage
-
£27,560 a year
- Training course
- Early years lead practitioner (level 5)
- Hours
-
Monday – Friday
40 hours per week
Varies between 4 or 5 days per week
Start time 7.30am – 6pm
40 hours a week
- Start date
-
Thursday 30 October 2025
- Duration
-
1 year 6 months
- Positions available
-
4
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
Deputy Room Leader – Role Overview:
The Deputy Room Leader is a qualified childcare professional responsible for the day-to-day running of their room. They provide high-quality care and education, maintain a stimulating learning environment, and support staff development. Acting as a creative and reflective leader, they model best practice, implement new ideas, and contribute to continual improvement across the nursery.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead by example, maintaining professionalism and being a positive role model for children and staff.
- Support the management team in sustaining a Good Ofsted rating and working towards Outstanding.
- Ensure the welfare and safety of all children by following safeguarding, health and safety, and confidentiality procedures.
- Organise daily routines, risk assessments, and room checks to ensure consistent, high-quality care.
- Work in partnership with parents and carers, building trust through open communication, daily diaries, observations, and use of EY log.
- Be a key person, setting weekly targets for key children, planning activities to meet individual needs, and supporting learning through a curiosity-based approach.
- Provide a safe, inclusive, and stimulating environment both indoors and outdoors, respecting children’s abilities, interests, language, and cultural backgrounds.
- Deploy staff and resources effectively, maintaining statutory ratios at all times, including during breaks and outdoor play.
- Oversee room planning, ensuring activities are age-appropriate, engaging, and aligned with EYFS requirements.
- Mentor and support staff through effective communication, delegating tasks, sharing knowledge, and identifying training needs. Assist with inductions, 1:1s, staff meetings, and peer observations.
- Encourage teamwork by reflecting on practice, valuing colleagues’ skills, and embracing flexibility to ensure the smooth running of the nursery.
- Uphold nursery policies and procedures, addressing breaches appropriately. Promote equality, diversity, and inclusion, challenging any behaviours that do not align with nursery values.
- Actively participate in training, staff meetings, and professional development opportunities, including completing Noodle Now modules as required.
- Support the overall success of Tender Years Day Nursery by contributing to a positive, professional image and undertaking additional duties when required.
- The Deputy Room Leader plays a vital role in ensuring the highest standards of care, education, and leadership within the nursery, working closely with the management team to inspire and support both children and staff.
Where you'll work
88 WOODYATES ROAD
LEE
LONDON
SE12 9JH
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
THE CHILD CARE COMPANY (OLD WINDSOR) 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
The training will take place within the nursery setting
A Development Coach will be allocated to the learner for their learning and will have 121s each month with a mixture of blended learning - Teams and F2F
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
- English (grade 4 - 9)
- Maths (grade 4 - 9)
Other in:
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
- Team working
- Creative
- Patience
Other requirements
Have to have worked in an Early year setting for 2–3 years.
About this employer
Little Pumpkins Nursery is a group of privately run nurseries across South East London. We provide quality childcare and a learning program in accordance with the standards set forth by Ofsted. Little Pumpkins Nursery offers full and part-time placements for children as young as twelve weeks, up to school transition age of five years. We’re dedicated, not only to the care of your child, but also to nurturing their development at such an influential age. Established to provide a premium solution to the lack of high quality and affordable child care in the London area, Little Pumpkins Nursery provided a safe and welcoming environment.
https://www.littlepumpkinsnursery.com/nurseries/south-norwood/home/ (opens in new tab)
Company benefits
Pension Employee Assistance, FREE counselling sessions. Discount coupons 40 hours additional hours of CPD Home cooked meal at lunch Uniform Birthday off once probation completed 100% discount on childcare for the days you work
After this apprenticeship
When there is a role available for Room Leader or Deputy as you have the experience, you will be able to apply.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
THE CHILD CARE COMPANY (OLD WINDSOR) LIMITED
Ali Franklin
ali.franklin@thechildcarecompany.com
01753 978514
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000343313.
Apply now
Closes on Saturday 25 October 2025
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