Cherubs Day Nursery is part of a chain of nine nurseries across Nottingham, Mansfield, Worksop and Ravenshead. Working with learndirect they deliver childcare and customer service Apprenticeships to employees across the business. This commitment to developing their staff has paid off and the nurseries are now reaping the benefits from the fresh pool of talent it’s help bring into the company.
Rachael Hornby is manager at the nursery in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire. She said: “Within all the nurseries we’re constantly updating staff skills. That might be existing staff who’ve already completed a level 3 in childcare or apprentices who have no qualifications at all and we help develop them from the very beginning.
“We originally decided to consider using Apprenticeships to train staff because when I first came to the Cherubs Kimberley site they were very much a qualified team. We’d all worked with each other for a number of years and were quite set in our ways, so we wanted a way of being able to build on the skills of our existing staff as well as bringing fresh thinking into the nursery.
“The staff at learndirect are really good. There is excellent communication from them which really helps me manage my staff ratios. We also have an e-track system so we can see online how staff are progressing in their qualifications.
“The main benefit we’ve seen is definitely getting that bigger pool of ideas and new ways of thinking from the young people coming into the business. We’re a progressive nursery so this really fits in with the ethos of the company.
“It’s particularly nice to see the apprentices’ confidence grow. Once you’ve done the practical way of showing them about child development and combine that with the theory they build a real understanding.
“Developing our staff isn’t all about ticking boxes, it’s about the experience and the life skills you’re helping provide for the children in the nursery.”
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