Busy Bees Training is celebrating the success of a newly-developed pilot scheme that offers young people the chance to undertake a 20 week Traineeship.
The work experience programme focuses on developing young people’s skills and experience within the workplace, making them more appealing to potential employers once they have left education and enter into employment.
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The scheme was trailed in a number of Busy Bees in Birmingham and Wigan and combines work experience, employability skills, Maths, English and a Level one NVQ in Childcare. The trainees also complete classroom days twice a week to support them with their employability and childcare skills, alongside their work placement.
Sian Spenser, 17, joined the Busy Bees nursery in Solihull for her Traineeship with Busy Bees, after she struggled to find the right platform to develop her skills.
“I knew that I needed to gain some experience in childcare before I started my apprenticeship, and a traineeship presented me with a fantastic opportunity to develop the skills that employers were looking for and help me secure an apprenticeship, while gaining practical experience within a nursery environment.
Spener’s hard-work and enthusiasm impressed the nursery team, and she became a real asset to the setting and she was offered Sian a full time role as an Early Years Educator.
She said: “I would really like to progress on to complete the Level 3 apprenticeship. I know I want to be a nursery room manager and I’m really lucky in that the nursery are already preparing me for this role by showing me some of the paperwork and role responsibilities involved. As a result, I feel more ready and able to begin my training as a room manager, with much of the knowledge I need already in place.”
The success of the scheme means that Busy Bees Training have begun to make plans to extend their traineeship programme which will offer the trainees the opportunity to seamlessly move onto one of their apprenticeships. Following the completion of the traineeship, Busy Bees Training ensures that the trainee is offered an interview for available apprenticeships or job vacancies within the setting.
The Traineeship scheme was developed by Busy Bees Training in response to research suggesting that young people often lack the knowledge and experience that employers require. At its core are childcare training, work preparation training, English and Maths for those who need it, and a high quality work experience placement, helping young people to become ‘work ready’ for a career in the childcare sector.
Busy Bees Training Manager, Fay Gibbin, said: “The traineeship programme offers young people who lack the skills that employers are looking for the opportunity to develop these skills in high quality placements within their chosen sector. The aim of the programme is to give them the foundations needed to go into employment and/or gain entry onto a recognised training programme. Not only will this impact on the success of the young people on the traineeship, but also the nursery setting, the wider childcare community and the economy.
“The success of the trail has given us the opportunity to begin expanding the scheme to include more areas of the country. Each trainee is assigned a mentor to guide and advise them, and working with trainees will also give established members of staff the chance to develop their skills in mentoring and coaching young people. Once trainees have completed their Traineeship with Busy Bees they are ready to begin their career in childcare, with invaluable experience and expertise to ensure that they have a successful future ahead of them.”
Photo caption: Apprentice Storm Epsom and Nursery Manager Jess Fearon