Apprentice Nursery Assistant in Brighton

Do you have a talent for working with children and interested in turning that into a career? The apprenticeship will award you a level 3 Early Years Educator and the opportunity to work directly with children up to 5 years old. The course opportunity is based at Jump Start Nursery and run by Next Steps Training.

Jump Start Nursery is one of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Family Hub Nurseries. We pride ourselves on plenty of space to play and learn both indoors and outdoors. Jump Start has a large garden where children join together to climb and slide, play in the mud kitchen, enjoy the sandpit and ride bikes. We have a play-based approach to learning in a fun, happy and calm atmosphere. We are proud of our staff team, many of whom have been at Jump Start for many years. The team are qualified to level 3 or above. Together the team share the same passion for delivering a high standard of care to the children and provide exciting opportunities for the children to learn, grow and develop into confident young people.

The Early Years Educator apprenticeship has core skills, knowledge and behaviours that you will be expected to learn and apply during your working day at Jump Start Nursery. Next Steps Training will allocate a personal tutor that will work with you and your manager at Jump Start Nursery to support you through the apprenticeship. At the end of the training period, the apprentice will have an end point assessment. You will receive additional support from a nominated mentor throughout the duration of the apprenticeship. The duration of the apprenticeship will be up to 27 months. This may be amended should you have any applicable prior learning and your contract will end on successful completion of the apprenticeship.

Entry Requirements: Please see the Essential Criteria listed in the Person Specification section of the Job Description for the particular requirements of this role. Please note, if you are successful at interview your application will be shared with the training provider and an informal interview and assessments will take place with them to confirm eligibility prior to an offer being confirmed. Please list your qualifications in the application as this may affect eligibility.

Apprentices will gain knowledge in:

• The expected patterns of children’s development from birth to 5 years, and have an understanding of further development from age 5 to 7.
• The significance of attachment and how to promote it effectively.
• A range of underpinning theories and philosophical approaches to how children learn and develop, and their influence on practice.
• How children’s learning and development can be affected by their stage of development and individual circumstances such as moving school, birth of a sibling, family breakdown and adoption and care.
• The importance of promoting diversity, equality and inclusion, fully reflecting cultural differences and family circumstances.
• The importance to children’s holistic development of speech, language and communication, personal, social and emotional development, and physical development.
• A range of strategies for developing early literacy and mathematics.
• The potential effects of, and how to prepare and support children through, transitions and significant events in their lives.
• The current early education curriculum requirements such as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

We will provide:

• Paid days holiday every year plus bank holidays.
• A full induction and training programme.
• Encouragement and support to further your education and continued professional development.
• Generous pension scheme.
• Loans available to support with bus travel, or buying a bike and deposit.
• Loans for rental properties, these are paid back straight from your salary.
• Staff discount scheme that can be used in local shops/cafes as well as national stores, including discounted cinema tickets, and discounted gift cards.
• Ongoing support in the form of regular supervisions and appraisals.
• The opportunity to work as part of a dedicated team.
• A setting that is child and family centred, not for profit.

As an Apprentice, you are eligible for an apprentice NUS discount card and can take advantage of the Catch the bus4work scheme and bus travel discounts with Brighton & Hove buses.

We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve, so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check. We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers.