A nursery apprentice from Grandir UK’s Ryan House Day Nursery and Preschool, has been awarded Apprentice of the Year by training company Realise.

Thomas Shaw, 21, overcame mental health struggles to complete a Level 2 Early Years Practitioner apprenticeship and is on track to achieve his Level 3 Early Years Educator apprenticeship eight weeks earlier than planned. He will progress to the position of room leader at Nottingham’s Ryan House Day Nursery and Preschool once qualified.

Shaw said he was proud to fly the flag for men working in nurseries across the UK, given that only around 2% of the early years workforce is male. “Being a man working in a nursery is a fantastic experience and the children love having that balance of genders,” he said. “Some of them won’t have a male role model in their life so they look up to you and it means a lot that I can potentially make a huge difference to their lives at such a young age. I’d encourage any man thinking of moving into the sector to go for it.”

Grandir UK acquired Ryan House Day Nursery, Radcliffe-On-Trent Day Nursery and Ruddington Day Nursery in June 2022. The settings have all achieved an Outstanding rating from Ofsted.