Nurseries shine in supporting apprentices
Two nurseries have got through to the finals of this year's National Apprenticeships awards.
Kingscliffe Day Nursery in Loughborough and The Ark Day Nursery in Halifax were both nominated by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for their outstanding commitment, in separate categories. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on 10 July.
Kingscliffe, with nine members of staff, is a finalist in the Micro Employer of the Year (1-9 employees), while The Ark is a finalist in the Small Employer of the Year (10-49 employees).
The Ark set up a training academy in association with Cosdale College 18 months ago. Co-owner and manager Jo Brock said, 'We always had staff training and doing long hours, so it makes life easier training on-site and with people they know. Often the absence of these factors has been a barrier. Many staff didn't want to do training before.
'At the moment we do NVQ Levels 2 and 3 and we're looking at whether we can extend that further. Staff train one morning a week. It's very cohesive and a really positive culture. There's high morale, high staff retention, and a high ratio of quality staff - 95 per cent are trained or in training, which exceeds the Ofsted requirement,' she added.
Alexis McConnanie, owner of the 32-place Kingscliffe, became involved in apprenticeships in 2001 when the nursery only had 20 places. She said, 'We promoted staff within the business and recruited from local schools and colleges. Apprentices go on to a permanent role within the business and get on a career ladder. We tried to recruit qualified staff and it's not worked for us as a small nursery.'
'They have a training allowance of £80 per week. But we actually give them a raise above the official allowance. Having someone on a lower wage helps the business in the short-term as well.'
People from the professional community from a large nursery have found it difficult to settle in and acknowledged that.
