Heart of the South West Apprenticeship Service provides fully funded training and support to equip business in Devon and Somerset with the skills they need to grow. The service can provide businesses with recognised accredited qualifications and bespoke training courses for their employees and business support to enable them to take advantage of Apprenticeship opportunities that work for their business. GHQ is part of Serco’s network of expert organisations chosen to deliver the programme in partnership with Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).  Heart of the South West Apprenticeship Service is co-financed by the European Social Fund and the Education and Skills Funding Agency. 

Humpty Dumpty Nurseries opened its first nursery in 1989 and there mission ever since has been to create happy memories and curious minds for children they look after. Their approach to childcare and nursery education encourages creativity, independence and imagination, with the aim of equipping children with the skills needed for continuous learning and development. 

Humpty Dumpty Nurseries are a family owned and managed business and discovered in a recent survey that 97% of parents would recommend the business to a friend. 

Wendy Edmunds, Senior Nursery manager said “we have three bright and spacious children’s day nurseries in Dartington, Dartmouth and Newton Abbot. All three of our nurseries have been rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted, including a number of ‘Outstanding’ features. 
We are committed to ensuring that each child receives the most up to date care and support to help with their learning. As a result, we strongly believe in supporting and encouraging the continuous professional development of our staff. 

Humpty Dumpty Nurseries contacted GHQ having seen their promotion of training provision for the sector on social media.  Helen hart and Natalie Lynn of GHQ carried out a training needs analysis with Wendy. It was highlighted as part of the TNA that there was a need for putting in place a management career pathway for supervisors. Humpty Dumpty Nurseries were also very interest in accessing other CPD for staff including apprenticeships, in order for them to develop their skills and progress in their careers with the organisation. 

Humpty Dumpty Nurseries struggles to recruit experienced and qualified staff in the locality. Applicant’s sometimes have the qualifications but are not able to demonstrate the depth of knowledge and skills required. Although they are very supportive of staff development and take on apprentices annually they felt there was a need to offer existing staff in supervisory positions the opportunity to progress careers and develop management skills. This will help to address the skills gaps in their organisation. 

Humpty Dumpty Nurseries has found it difficult to afford specialist training for their staff since the local authorities have cut their CPD funding to childcare settings. There is an increasing need within the sector for specialist in speech, language and communication but it is difficult to source and afford. 
Humpty Dumpty Nurseries have benefitted from the following training with Heart of the South West Apprenticeship Service support:

• Level 3 (non-regulated) Principles of management: Team Leading was delivered to four participants covering all of the company’s sites. The qualification was delivered over 3 one day sessions over a 3 consecutive week period.
• Level 3 (regulated) Award in Supporting Young People’s Speech, Language and Communication. This 6 month programme was delivered at each of the company’s sites and learning includes classroom sessions alongside observations and practical assignments. 5 employees have benefited form this course to date. 

GHQ consulted with the employer to identify what the training needs of the organisation were and together they developed a programme that was tailored to the specific sector needs. The employer was originally keen to get specialist training for Speech, language and communication but during the TNA process it became evident they had a gap in middle management skills and were finding it difficult to recruit. It was agree to tailor GHQ’s existing Team leading course to the childcare sector with collaboration between the employer and our management and childcare specialists. 

Wendy said “We have been very pleased to work in partnership with GHQ to develop bespoke training for our employees in response to our particular needs for staff and children. We enrolled our staff on a number of courses which have refreshed and enthused staff and we can already see evidence that the training is being reflected in their daily practice.”

The training provided through Heart of the South West Apprenticeship Service has benefitted the business in the following ways:

• Enabling supervisors to undertake training in Team Leading in order to support them in their current roles and manage their teams more effectively. 
• Supporting supervisors to access the above training which provides a stepping stone for progression in to an Apprenticeship in Management
• Making essential specialist training affordable which is having a direct impact on the children 
• Opening up opportunities for further progression in education as well as career.  

The current identified progression route for each individual at Humpty Dumpty Nurseries taking the Team Leading short course or the speech, language and communication qualification could be progression on to a Level 3 Management Apprenticeship or the CACHE Level 4 Certificate for the Early Years Advanced practitioner. There is no HLA in Childcare currently. 

To find out about accessing fully funded training through Heart of the South West Apprenticeship Service business can contact us.