Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner Apprenticeship
SAPLINGS RURAL DAY NURSERY AND PRESCHOOL LTD
TONBRIDGE (TN11 0DP)
Closes on Tuesday 1 December 2026
Posted on 8 October 2026
Contents
Summary
The Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner (EYLP) Apprenticeship is ideal for proactive, influential practitioners, working directly with children. These highly skilled professionals take an operational lead for the care, learning and development of all young children within their care and lead and support the practice of others.
- Wage
-
Competitive
Competitive wage offered
Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)
£13.50ph
- Training course
- Early years lead practitioner (level 5)
- Hours
-
Full time, Monday to Friday. 4 days working, 1 set day off.
Working Shifts
3 days working, 7.45am - 6.00pm.
1 day working, 7.45am - 3.15pm.
40 hours a week
- Start date
-
Wednesday 2 December 2026
- Duration
-
1 year 8 months
- 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
- Providing care: Ensuring children are safe and well, and responding to their needs
- Supporting learning: Facilitating play and learning opportunities, and developing children's speech, language, and communication
- Leading practice: Participating in and leading daily routines, and promoting best practices for observation, assessment, and planning
- Promoting diversity and equality: Ensuring all children are included and supported
- Complying with safeguarding: Ensuring the setting complies with all safeguarding legislation, policies, and strategies
- Reflecting and building on practice: Using professional enquiry and action research to contribute to the setting's pedagogical approach
- Leading other practitioners: Supporting others in developing their own practice
Where you'll work
2 COURT LANE
HADLOW
TONBRIDGE
TN11 0DP
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
BEST PRACTICE NETWORK 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
- Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner
- The programme offers a blended approach including virtual classrooms, webinars, work-based tasks and online assignments
- Candidates are not required to attend college
- You will receive one-to-one support and tuition from your apprenticeship tutor, this tutor will make in person visits to you at the nursery, or schedule online meetings every 5-6 weeks
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
Level 3 Early Years Educator Qualification 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
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Problem solving skills
- Presentation skills
- Administrative skills
- Number skills
- Analytical skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
Other requirements
Safeguarding Statement
This authority/organisation is dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, requiring all staff and volunteers to uphold this commitment.
As part of the safer recruitment, you will require an enhanced DBS. This will be applied for by the employer if successful.
It is an offence to apply for the role if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children.
Right to Work & Residency
Requirements Applicants who are not UK nationals must meet apprenticeship funding eligibility rules, including having lived in the UK or EU for at least 3 consecutive years prior to the start date.
You must hold a valid visa that does not expire within 18 months of your apprenticeship start date. We will require a share code to verify your right to work and study in the UK.
After submitting your application, you will receive a screening form where you can securely provide your share code for eligibility checks.
About this employer
Situated on the outskirts of Hadlow village, Saplings Nursery and Pre-School provides a safe and fun environment for your child to learn and explore.
At saplings, we believe that every child is unique, complex and individual. Through nurture and creative experiences we endeavour to develop each child’s potential, confidence, strength and skills in an educational atmosphere of fun, warmth and safety. We have a holistic approach, surrounding care, education, inspiration and connection. It’s a home away from home and a supportive community for you and your family.
At Saplings, every day as a new opportunity to connect with nature, to grow and to build on children’s natural curiosity that will create a life-long love of learning. Our objective is to be a bridge between the home and school by providing the highest standards of childcare and education for babies, toddlers and pre-school children.
Registered and inspected by Ofsted, we offer sessional care for children aged between 6 months and 5 years of age, as well as Before School and After-School clubs for children of primary school age. We are open 50 weeks of year, from 07:45 till 18:00.
After this apprenticeship
Your earnings can increase over time with an apprenticeship. Find out about potential future pay (opens in new tab).
The Early Years Lead Practitioner Level 5 is the equivalent to a foundation degree. You could progress to a top-up degree and Early Years Teacher Status.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
BEST PRACTICE NETWORK LIMITED
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000058112.
Apply now
Closes on Tuesday 1 December 2026