Meet the Early Years and Education Employers
It’s estimated that in January 2020 over 143,400 under 2s and 1,271,500 3 & 4-years olds benefit from funded early education, demonstrating that it’s a big industry in the UK*.
We all know that the pandemic has affected industries in the UK in different ways, some industries successfully adapted and continued to thrive, one of which being early education.
We work with a number of early education employers to ensure course content include the insights of industry leaders, which means you will be equipped with the skills and knowledge you need to get ahead in the modern jobs market.
*Source: December 2020
Coming soon...
Chris and Justine, Busy Buddies
We believe that by creating inclusive environments indoors and outdoors that are full of learning opportunity, accompanied with the space to be creative, explore, have fun and make friends, enables children to feel safe, secure and happy allowing them to make memories that can last a lifetime.
The children will be supported and guided on their journey by a team of staff with experience, qualifications and a shared passion for caring and educating children, whilst committing themselves and the setting to continuous learning and professional development.
Providing young children with these experiences at such an important stage of their lives will enable them to blossom, reach their full potential.
Justine is our manager and owner, she has been working in the early years environment for over 14 years and has 4 children of her own. Justine also has many other childcare qualifications.
Chris is our forest school leader and co-owner (and Justine's husband), he has been working in the early years environment for over 7 years and has a degree in early years childhood studies along with many other childcare qualifications
Karen, Little Bears
Little Bears Day Nursery is a warm and loving children’s nursery located on a quiet street in Weston-super-Mare. It is the ideal place for your little ones to learn, play and have fun throughout the week. Little Bears Day Nursery has won several awards and accolades over the years; meaning parents will have peace of mind knowing that their child is in safe hands.
We have a long running relationship working with Weston College and we are happy to support learners on placements in all of the following courses:
- T Level
- Full time courses
- Traineeships
- Apprenticeships
- HE
We look forward to meeting new learners from September and supporting them in their journey as they learn and develop the skills and knowledge within Early Years.
Amanda, Assistant Headteacher, Mendip Green School
One of our early years and education employers, Mendip Green School, is based in Weston-super-Mare. They are passionate about ensuring that every child leaves their school with the knowledge, skills and experiences to lead happy and successful lives. They want children to make a positive contribution to the community around them and to realise that society thrives when every individual plays their part. Mendip Green is a large primary school with three classes in each year group from EYFS – Y6, a Hearing Base and an ASD hub.
Mendip Green offers placements for:
- T Level
- HE
A typical day at a placement at Mendip Green may include:
- supporting children in learning activites across the diverse curriculum
- classroom preparation
- planning meetings
- completing observations
- small group work
- liasing with adults
- working as a team.
In a world that is so rapidly changing, we want our children to have the tools to succeed in jobs that may not even exist yet. We offer a rich learning experience, meticulously planned to provide context and meaning across the curriculum. Above all, we want our children to burst with stories about their day over the dinner table and always reflect on a memorable time at primary school. Offering placements to students plays an enormous part of this as it allows us to provide learning opportunities that, without them, would not be possible. Investing in high quality training for educators of the future is an important focus for many schools and it is our pleasure to work in partnership with Weston College and UWE.
Storal Learning
Storal Learning and our local nurseries in the South West believe in supporting the career development of young people in the area, to help them find rewarding positions where they can apply what they have learnt at Weston College and develop it further in practice. Our nurseries are about building safe and nurturing environments for children but also about putting our people at the heart of what we do.’
A career in early years is varied. If you want to be an influential part of a young person’s life this is the sector to consider joining. Join us or find out more about early years and education courses:
Lee-Anne, Managing Director, DaisyChain
One of our early years and education employers is DaisyChain, an independent nursery and pre-school, based in Weston-super-Mare. It is a happy and secure place where children learn and grow safely at their own pace. It is calm yet stimulating and enables children to create a strong and lasting foundation for life. DaisyChain offer lots of fun, interesting activities which are thought provoking and challenging. The children have lots of opportunities to play freely with their friends whilst being guided and supervised by dedicated, knowledgeable staff.
Daisychain caters for children between 6 months and 5 years with a strong emphasis on child led learning. We have two separate rooms, one for under 2’s, Little Stars, which is light and airy. It includes a dedicated sleep room which boasts wooden cots and a viewing panel so we can keep a close, watchful eye on children whilst they sleep. Our larger room, The Rainbow room is divided into two sections, 2’s and Pre-school. We do allow the children to mix for some of the day but by having the divide it allows us to have certain activities out for our preschool children which are not suitable for our youngest learners. We also have an all weather play area which is accessed freely from our Rainbow room as well as a large garden and an allotment.
DaisyChain offers placements for:
- T Level
- Apprenticeship
- Traineeship
- HE
No two days are the same at Daisychain. We are child led, we do not plan specific daily activities we work in the moment. By using this method we ensure that children are fully engaged at all times creating a calm yet stimulated environment. We offer rolling snack which is usually a piece of fruit or rice cakes and milk and we also have a cook who whips up some delicious home cooked lunches for the children (and staff!) We like to spend lots of time outside. The children enjoy getting really muddy in the garden and building exciting, challenging structures and assault courses using our loose parts items.
In 2010 I left my previous career working in residential lettings and insurance to become a childminder so I could spend more time with my young family. As I gained momentum I explanded our offer and Vicki joined me as my co-childminder (now the Little Stars Lead) and Sam (now the nursery deputy manager) became our childminding assistant. We moved to larger premises as we grew increasingly in numbers, when the opportunity came to take over the lease of the nursery in summer 2019 we all decided it was the right direction for the business.
I believe strong links with Weston College are integral to the success of the nursery, by allowing learners the opportunity to join us they can see what it means to be an Early Years Practitioner and to give learners the chance to see what really goes on in a setting. There are many benefits to employing apprentices but the main advantage for us is that we can help those young aspiring practitioners the chance to gain valuable experience whilst gaining a recognised qualification and ultimately giving them the tools to succeed.
Chris & Justine, Busy Buddies
We believe that by creating inclusive environments indoors and outdoors that are full of learning opportunity, accompanied with the space to be creative, explore, have fun and make friends, enables children to feel safe, secure and happy allowing them to make memories that can last a lifetime.
The children will be supported and guided on their journey by a team of staff with experience, qualifications and a shared passion for caring and educating children, whilst committing themselves and the setting to continuous learning and professional development.
Providing young children with these experiences at such an important stage of their lives will enable them to blossom, reach their full potential.
Justine is our manager and owner, she has been working in the early years environment for over 14 years and has 4 children of her own. Justine also has many other childcare qualifications.
Chris is our forest school leader and co-owner (and Justine's husband), he has been working in the early years environment for over 7 years and has a degree in early years childhood studies along with many other childcare qualifications.
Karen, Little Bears
Little Bears Day Nursery is a warm and loving children’s nursery located on a quiet street in Weston-super-Mare. It is the ideal place for your little ones to learn, play and have fun throughout the week. Little Bears Day Nursery has won several awards and accolades over the years; meaning parents will have peace of mind knowing that their child is in safe hands.
We have a long running relationship working with Weston College and we are happy to support learners on placements in all of the following courses:
- T Level
- Full time courses
- Traineeships
- Apprenticeships
- HE
We look forward to meeting new learners from September and supporting them in their journey as they learn and develop the skills and knowledge within Early Years.
Amanda, Assistant Headteacher, Mendip Green School
One of our early years and education employers, Mendip Green School, is based in Weston-super-Mare. They are passionate about ensuring that every child leaves their school with the knowledge, skills and experiences to lead happy and successful lives. They want children to make a positive contribution to the community around them and to realise that society thrives when every individual plays their part. Mendip Green is a large primary school with three classes in each year group from EYFS – Y6, a Hearing Base and an ASD hub.
Mendip Green offers placements for:
- T Level
- HE
A typical day at a placement at Mendip Green may include:
- supporting children in learning activites across the diverse curriculum
- classroom preparation
- planning meetings
- completing observations
- small group work
- liasing with adults
- working as a team.
In a world that is so rapidly changing, we want our children to have the tools to succeed in jobs that may not even exist yet. We offer a rich learning experience, meticulously planned to provide context and meaning across the curriculum. Above all, we want our children to burst with stories about their day over the dinner table and always reflect on a memorable time at primary school. Offering placements to students plays an enormous part of this as it allows us to provide learning opportunities that, without them, would not be possible. Investing in high quality training for educators of the future is an important focus for many schools and it is our pleasure to work in partnership with Weston College and UWE.
YMCA
YMCA Dulverton Group exists for the communities we serve. As a key element of our community branches we make available early years provision across six settings. From larger settings for 100 children to smaller settings for 24, we ensure that every child has access to high quality early years provision, with support for families being key in our mission.
Each of our settings has a strong emphasis on outdoor learning, and we positively encourage child led learning and inquisitive minds. With our indoor spaces we provide inspiring environments for little learners with natural materials at the fore. Providing for children from three months to five years, ensuring that their journey through our settings gives them the best possible start in life.
We are proud to be working in partnership with Weston College, in the delivery of T levels from two settings, Barley Wood Nursery in Wrington, and Yew Trees Nursery, just outside of Axbridge.
The team are looking forward to meeting and working with new learners, and will without doubt welcome you into our settings, in a supportive atmosphere, with plenty of opportunities for development. To learn more about our approach and settings please see www.ymca-earlyyears.org
A career in early years is varied. If you want to be an influential part of a young person’s life this is the sector to consider joining. Join us or find out more about early years and education courses:
