Early Years Educator Apprentice

St Peter’s School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment by always complying with the school’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and Procedures. The successful applicant will be required to undergo statutory pre‑employment checks, including a Disclosure and Barring Service check.

Are you excited by a career in childcare and looking for an exciting Apprenticeship opportunity in a remarkable private day nursery setting? At St Peter’s School York, we are wishing to appoint a Nursery Practitioner Apprentice to join our highly skilled and supportive team. We are looking for a caring, creative and hard‑working individual who ideally has relevant previous experience of working with children and a strong commitment to becoming an excellent practitioner in the future. We will support you fully in your journey to becoming a Level 3 Practitioner. You will work a five‑day week, leaving you a day a week for your studies. You will have a mentor, a full induction programme and an excellent training programme to help you feel confident and happy in your role and to ensure you thrive with us.

Position Details:

• Department: The Rise Nursery
• Responsible to: The Nursery Manager
• Salary: £24,785 p.a.
• Working hours: 38‑40 hours per week, Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 18:00 over 4/5 days
• Start date: 27th August 2026

About Our Nursery:

The Rise Nursery is part of St Peter’s School York and is due to open as a registered setting in January 2027. We will be open 50 weeks a year and offer exceptional childcare and education to babies and children aged 6 months‑3 years. Our Nursery is planned and led by a qualified and highly experienced EYFS teacher and offers something very special to our families. We will have three beautifully and intentionally resourced rooms for our Wrens (youngest babies), Robins (older babies) and Finches (2‑3 year olds). We also have a separate kitchen and dining room, a library/sensory space and a large art studio led by a full‑time art specialist. Outside we have a beautiful large walled nursery garden, Forest School plus acres of school grounds and local parks and attractions to visit. Nurturing and respecting the individuality of every child is at the heart of all we do; we want our children to have the freedom to explore their own ideas and fascinations, and for practitioners to be calm and connected responding to the children with joy, expertise, creativity and care.

From September – January you will be working in our current Nursery setting at St Peter’s School with the Finches class (2‑3 year olds) before moving to the Rise Nursery in January. The Rise will be a wonderful teacher‑led nursery with a separate dining room, art studio and library and beautiful light‑filled children’s rooms in a large historic house. It will have support from a variety of school services to support the staff with focusing on the children. This will include housekeeping services to ensure practitioners do not need to complete laundry, cleaning or washing up as well as other functions to support our staff.

What Your Role Involves:

• Help create a safe, stimulating, language‑rich and child‑led learning environment where babies and children thrive.
• Plan ‘in the moment’ in response to the play of babies and young children expanding the learning possibilities in creative and exciting ways.
• Be a devoted, compassionate and attuned keyperson.
• Assess and support children’s learning milestones and share these through our focus‑child approach with parents.
• Fully engage with our training programme and Curiosity Approach and Reggio Emilia inspired philosophy.
• Be a committed, positive and collaborative member of the team and a great team player.
• Offer thoughtful, unhurried and reassuring communication with parents and carers and build positive relationships with families.

General:

• Health & Safety – You have a legal duty to take reasonable care of your own health and safety and that of others and you are expected to be familiar with, and adhere to, St Peter’s School’s Health and Safety policy.
• School values – You have a duty to ensure your work, communication and approach conforms to the school’s core values and mission. You will need to be aware and comply with school rules, policies and procedures at all times including, but not limited to, those relating to safeguarding, conduct, equality and data protection.

Requirements:

All apprentices must meet the entry requirements which are 4 GCSEs at grade 4/C or above to include English and Maths. The duration of this apprenticeship is 18 months for the Level 3 Early Years Educator plus an additional 3 months for the end point assessment, with attendance in college on paid day release. The start date is to be confirmed. You will attend York College one day a week as part of your training programme.

St Peter’s School strives to be diverse and inclusive. We encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic background, who are underrepresented at the school. The school is committed to providing equal opportunity to all employees and pupils. This means that employees are treated fairly, irrespective of sexual orientation, ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, gender, marital status or other reason. The post holder is expected to always comply with the provisions set out in law and the St Peter’s policies on equality and diversity. The school is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community – a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit.

This job description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of duties and responsibilities associated with the post. The post holder will be expected to comply with any reasonable request to undertake work of a similar level that is not specified in this job description. This job description may be amended at any time.