Level 5 Early Years Lead Apprenticeship

This Level 5 Early Years Lead Apprenticeship offers an exciting opportunity to develop into a Room Leader while working in a professional early year setting. You will gain hands-on leadership experience, support day-to-day nursery operations, and help deliver high-quality care and education for children.

What you'll do at work

• Ensure full regulatory compliance
• Deliver outstanding care and education
• Support, develop, and lead nursery staff within your room, ensuring their professional development
• Build positive relationships with parents, carers, and external agencies
• Manage budgets, staffing rota, and maintain financial targets

Training course

Early years lead practitioner (level 5)

Hours

• 35 hours a week with 20% of employed time guaranteed to complete assignments with the support of a tutor. Days and times to be confirmed.

Start date

Monday 3 August 2026

Duration

2 years

Positions available

1

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

Where you'll work

12-13 REGENT TERRACE
CAMBRIDGE
CB2 1AA

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

Training provider

WMC TRAINING LTD

Training course

Early years lead practitioner (level 5)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

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.