Skills Bootcamp to kick-start 650 new early years recruits

The UK’s leading provider of early years apprenticeships has launched a Skills Bootcamp to help attract hundreds of new recruits to the sector and fast-track their training.

Realise will launch its ‘apprenticeship accelerator’ programme on February 1 with the aim of recruiting 650 people to the short courses over 18 months.

The Bootcamp, the first of its kind to be funded by the Department for Education, will be open to anyone aged over 19 and training is delivered free of charge to the learner to anybody not currently employed in the early years sector.

Individuals who complete the Bootcamp will be guaranteed an interview for a job with a local nursery and will automatically be eligible to begin a Level 3 apprenticeship when they secure employment.

Realise will deliver the Skills Bootcamp in person over a three-week course in selected locations – Slough, Liverpool, Northampton and Kent – while the course will be open for applications over the rest of the UK for online courses delivered over six weeks.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the Skills Bootcamp should e-mail Karen Derbyshire, Operations Director for Early Years at Realise, at [email protected]

Karen said:

“While we are renowned in the early years sector for delivering apprenticeships, it’s fantastic to be able to bring an alternative training solution to life through the Skills Bootcamp.

“With the number of children eligible for free childcare set to grow substantially in the next 18 months, it’s more important than ever to not only attract new people to the industry but to get them qualified as quickly as possible, while ensuring they go through appropriate training.

“The Skills Bootcamp is a real opportunity for people who are currently unemployed, in another job but looking for a new career or people who have worked in early years previously and are now looking to return to the sector.

“For the learner, it is the chance to take the first steps to forging a new career and for nursery settings, it’s an opportunity to add another Level 2 qualified team member to their ranks once they are considered competent by the nursery manager.

“The areas we have selected to deliver face-to-face training in are all ones we know have a high demand for new recruits into early years and that will be supplemented by our online offering.”

As well as securing a guaranteed interview, those completing the Skills Bootcamp will also have access to career coaches while the process of receiving enhanced DBS checks will begin during the training.

The Skills Bootcamp can be accessed by those working in early years who have not yet secured a Level 2 apprenticeship, although the employer must contribute 10% of the costs if it’s an SME or 30 per cent for large operators.

Realise currently has 1,850 active early years apprentices across more than 1,000 employers in the UK.