The group has taken the step amid concerns about the quality of training that new recruits have experienced.
Thirty-six apprentice places will be available for 2012/13. Apprentices will be taken on as full-time employees and will work four days a week with one day in the academy to train for NVQ Level 2 or 3.
Chief executive Jennie Johnson (pictured) told Nursery World, ‘The thinking behind it is quite simple. We’re finding out that whether we have Level 2 or Level 3 staff coming in, there is a large skills gap, which surprises us. But when I’ve spoken to other nursery owners they feel the same.’
‘We find that we’re having to invest in additional training to get people up to the Kids Allowed standard. We feel that there isn’t enough practical, hands-on, deep learning in NVQ2 Level 2 and 3.’
The nursery group employs more than 300 staff at four nurseries, with more than 70 per cent of practitioners trained to Level 3 or above.
Ten per cent of the group’s staff have a Level 6 or Early Years Professional Status.
The academy will open in September with training based at one of the group’s nurseries, although apprentices will work in placements across all four sites in Cheshire and Manchester.
Trainees will undertake Level 2 or Level 3 training as appropriate, with the expectation that those at Level 2 will progress through the academy to Level 3.
The academy will include a pre-school room, which will be set up as a ‘mock-up’ nursery in the mornings for training, so that trainees can learn about risk assessment and hazards. The room will be used by pre-school children in the afternoons, so that apprentices can work with existing staff, who will coach and mentor them.
Ms Johnson added, ‘Rather than continuing to put so much effort into training people who already had their qualifications on paper, we have decided to take matters into our own hands and train people to be the very best through our own academy.
‘The academy enables us to mould our own colleagues into inspiring and motivated childcare practitioners who put the children at the centre of their work.’
