Rachel Wallace. Credit: Realise
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Free training course
Rachel Wallace said it has been a “whirlwind few weeks” after she became the first person in England to complete a free training course designed to attract new people into the early years sector and secure a job as a nursery apprentice.
The 21-year-old from Liverpool recently completed the new Department for Education Skills Bootcamp, a three week course delivered by training provider Realise.
What is Skills Bootcamp?
The Skills Bootcamp course is to help people aged 19 or over gain the right skills to get a job in a sector where there is a shortage of workers.
Rachel said: “It’s been a whirlwind few weeks. I didn’t start the Skills Bootcamp course until early February and, by the middle of March, I’d completed the course, secured a job interview and been successful in getting the role.”
Rachel has now been taken on as a Level 3 early years apprentice at Kidsworld nursery on East Prescot Road in Liverpool.
Benefits of Skills Bootcamp course
“I’d tried to start working in a nursery previously, both in Liverpool and in London, but it didn’t work out.
“The Skills Bootcamp course made all the difference. It covered everything that we needed to be ready to work in an early years setting and I found the whole experience fantastic,” she said.
Training provider Realise put on the training and also helped Rachel get an interview at Kidsworld nursery within a week of the course finishing.
Some Skills Bootcamp courses are being delivered online, but training is being given face-to-face at main Skills Bootcamp hubs in Liverpool, Slough, Northampton, Totton, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.
The Skills Bootcamp, the first of its kind to be funded by the Department for Education, is open to anyone aged over 19 and training is delivered free of charge to anyone who is not currently employed in the early years sector.
People who complete the Skills Bootcamp are guaranteed an interview for a job with a local nursery and will automatically be eligible to begin a Level 3 apprenticeship when they get a job.
‘I couldn’t be happier’
Rachel added: “I couldn’t be happier to be starting my career in early years and to be beginning my apprenticeship.
“Given my diagnosis for autism and ADHD, I was a bit nervous about starting both the Skills Bootcamp training and my new job but it’s going fantastically well.
“Both the team at Realise when I was doing my training and my new colleagues at Kidsworld have been brilliant with me, supporting me when I needed it and helping me settle in.”
How to find a Skills Bootcamp course
There are hundreds of Skills Bootcamp courses available across a range of different sectors, including health and social care, digital and green industries, construction and engineering.
You can find the right Skills Bootcamp course for you at National Careers Service.
