This year, Bright Horizons is pledging to enrol 500 new apprentices across the UK, as well as supporting 500 existing apprenticeships with industry-beating rates of pay.

The move is part of Bright Horizons’ ongoing commitment as a leading UK nursery provider to help young people develop core professional skills and long-term career pathways in an industry vital to Britain’s economic and social wellbeing.

There are a wide range of apprenticeship opportunities available at Bright Horizons, with nearly 500 apprentices currently working here. The most popular apprenticeship programme that we focus on is in early years. Early years apprentices will work and study towards a Level 2 Early Years Practitioner or Level 3 Early Years Educator apprenticeship through work-based learning. Early years apprenticeships also include Level 1 and 2 Functional Skills in Maths and English.

The apprentice scheme at Bright Horizons and its Graduate Programme, are an integral part of its drive to elevate the status of early years professionals – reinforcing their vital role as key educators and workers in the wider economy. An early years educator is an expert partner to parents and helps to provide an important support service for employers and organisations who want to nurture fulfilled and productive careers for their own staff.

In 2021, Bright Horizons joined The 5% Club, which is made up of more than 500 employers from across a wide variety of sectors. The Club exists to help its members and all employers increase further the number, quality and range of earn and learn opportunities across the UK. Companies joining The 5% Club commit to raising the number of apprentices, sponsored students, and graduates on formal programmes to 5% of their total workforce within five years.

Janine Leightley, HR director at Bright Horizons, said: “Bright Horizons exists to deliver the very best early years education for the children in our care. We are a nurturing organisation, and we bring the same commitment to our colleagues. We want to drive best practice in childcare, and developing future generations of well-trained childcare professionals is vital to that. I am excited to see even more of our own employees get involved in our apprenticeships, as well as welcoming new faces to our Bright Horizons family.

“We only use high-quality learning providers who deliver apprenticeship learning both online and face to face. The instruction is adapted to meet individual learning styles and differentiated to support everyone, and we have also gone to great effort to ensure that colleagues improved levels of pay as well as well as other forms of support.”