The group has appointed Realise as its new training provider of choice.

The Old Station Nursery Group, which has 79 settings across the UK, has more than 150 apprentices amongst its current workforce.

Having grown significantly over recent years through acquisitions, The Old Station Nursery Group has seen its apprentices being guided through their programmes by many different training providers.

Kat Learner, training & professional development manager at Old Station Nursery, said: “Apprenticeships are absolutely crucial to our development as a nursery group, particularly as we have grown so quickly from having 20 settings only three years ago to almost 80 now.

“With onboarding so many new and current apprentices as we have acquired nurseries, we are keen to offer all our apprentices high-quality, consistent professional development.

“We have identified Realise as a preferred provider and were hugely impressed when we met with the team. With elements such as the additional expert webinars, they have a unique way of delivering the training, their trainers are all extremely experienced in the sector and the fact that their nationwide coverage matches our requirements across the UK was also a really important factor.”

The group has expanded rapidly since it became part of La Maison Bleue, a provider of childcare in France, Switzerland and Luxembourg, in 2019.

Realise, which works with nearly 1,000 nurseries and supports more than 1,700 learners a year in the early years sector, will predominately deliver Level 2, 3 and 5 apprenticeships for The Old Station Nursery Group.

Karen Derbyshire, operations director of early years at Realise, said: “We are delighted to have entered a training partnership with a group as progressive and forward-thinking as The Old Station Nursery Group.”

“We share many of the same values and are in absolute agreement of the importance of apprenticeships in general but also that learners get the best possible experience and support from their trainers.

“The Old Station Nursery  Group is going through an exceptional period of growth and it’s clear the team has given a great deal of thought to their future apprenticeship strategy.

“We are excited to help develop its offering by guiding its hard working and talented people – both new recruits to the sector and existing colleagues looking to upskill – through their apprenticeships programmes.”