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Level 5 - Early Years Practitioner Apprenticeship

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Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner (EYLP) Apprenticeship
This 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.
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
Level 3 Early Years Educator qualification required
Where you'll work
2 FALCONWOOD PARADE
WELLING
DA16 2PL
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)
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.
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Training schedule


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- Online learning and coursework
- Virtual classrooms and webinars
- One-to-one support from a dedicated tutor
- Workplace observations and reviews
- Dedicated training time within working hours
- No college attendance required
- Earn while you learn
- Gain a nationally recognised qualification
Essential qualifications
- GCSE in: English (grade 4)
- T Level in: Level 3 Early Years Educator (grade Pass)
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Attention to detail
- Customer care skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
Other requirements
- You must be a UK resident and have at least 3 years residency in the UK/EU
- If you require a Visa, this must not expire before the apprenticeship end date (up to 24 months).
- GCSEs in English and maths at Grade C (4) or above or able to achieve Level 2 English and maths whilst on programme.
This apprentice position is an excellent opportunity for those looking to build a career in education while making a meaningful difference in the lives of children.
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.
Medua Bilingual Nursery proudly adheres to the highest standards of education and caregiving. Our dedicated staff are committed to providing a supportive environment, where your child can thrive. Keep reading to learn more.
https://www.meduabilingualnursery.online
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.
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
BEST PRACTICE NETWORK LIMITED
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000048392.
Closes on Thursday 1 October 2026
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