Early Years Lead Practitioner apprenticeship
LITTLE PUMPKINS NURSERY LTD
Surrey (CR0 2EF)
Closes in 24 days (Monday 20 October 2025 at 11:59pm)
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
-
Saturday 25 October 2025
- Duration
-
1 year 6 months
- Positions available
-
2
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
This role requires leadership, strong communication skills, and the ability to inspire others. The Lead Practitioner works alongside management to maintain compliance with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Ofsted requirements, while promoting innovation, reflective practice, and continuous improvement.
Leadership and Team Support:
- Act as a role model of professional practice, setting high expectations in care, learning, and conduct.
- Lead by example, encouraging reflective practice and helping colleagues to learn from one another.
- Contribute to staff development by mentoring colleagues, leading inductions, and supporting training needs.
- Provide constructive feedback through supervisions, 1:1s, and peer observations.
Planning and Practice:
- Lead on planning and delivering activities that reflect the EYFS and take account of each child’s age, stage, interests, and cultural background.
- Ensure provision is rich in learning opportunities both indoors and outdoors, using a curiosity-led approach.
- Monitor and evaluate planning to ensure activities promote holistic development and progression.
- Support key persons to set appropriate weekly targets for their children and incorporate them into room planning.
- Oversee the completion of accurate observations and assessments, ensuring staff record and analyse children’s progress effectively.
Safeguarding, Health and Safety:
- Ensure safeguarding procedures are followed at all times in line with local authority and nursery policies.
- Respond to any child protection concerns appropriately and immediately, in line with whistleblowing procedures.
- Promote health, safety, and well-being across the setting by maintaining risk assessments, daily checks, and hygiene routines.
- Maintain excellent knowledge of health and safety policies, guiding staff on safe practice.
- Ensure confidentiality is respected and information is shared appropriately with relevant professionals
Relationships with Parents and Carers:
- Build strong, trusting relationships with families, promoting open communication and parental involvement in nursery life.
- Use EY log and other systems to maintain effective. communication with parents, including observations, daily diaries, and updates.
- Ensure parents feel valued as partners in their child’s learning and are encouraged to share feedback and contribute to planning.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion:
- Champion equality and diversity in the nursery, challenging behaviour or attitudes that do not support inclusive practice.
- Create an environment where all children and families feel respected and welcomed.
- Adapt provision to meet the needs of children with SEND or additional needs, working with external professionals where necessary.
Professional Conduct and Development:
- Demonstrate professionalism at all times, representing the nursery positively and supporting its success.
- Participate in staff meetings, training sessions, and professional development opportunities, including completing Noodle Now training.
- Reflect regularly on personal practice and contribute to ongoing improvements in provision and routines.
- Be flexible, assisting with additional duties such as domestic tasks or covering other roles to support the smooth running of the nursery.
Organisational Duties:
- Support management in implementing and promoting policies and procedures.
- Ensure statutory staff-to-child ratios are maintained at all times, deploying staff effectively.
- Complete daily ratio and headcount checks to ensure compliance.
- Oversee planning and provision, ensuring it supports developmental progression and reflects children’s interests.
- Carry out peer observations and feedback to strengthen practice within the team.
Where you'll work
48 Sydenham Road
Croydon
Surrey
CR0 2EF
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 Childcare Company will allocate a Development Coach to the apprentice and they will have 121s with them on a monthly basis and this will be online via Teams and face-to-face; they will visit the setting.
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
- Initiative
Other requirements
Worked in a nursery 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/about/about-little-pumpkins/ (opens in new tab)
Company benefits
Pension. Employee Assistance App FREE counselling sessions. Discount coupons. 40 hours of CPD. Home-cooked meal at lunch. Uniform. Birthday off once probation is completed. 100% discount on childcare for the days you work.
After this apprenticeship
When there is a role available for a 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 VAC1000343430.
Apply now
Closes in 24 days (Monday 20 October 2025 at 11:59pm)
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