University of Oxford is supporting Oxfordshire Nurseries

Overview

Oxfordshire Nurseries are an Oxfordshire based group of nurseries, with 4 locations:

• The Culham Science Centre Nursery and Preschool
• The Culham Village Nursery and Preschool 
• The Hadden Hill Nursery and Preschool
• The Wantage Nursery and Preschool

As a non levy paying company with over 100 staff, only being allocated 10 apprenticeships per financial year means Oxford Nurseries are restricted in how many of their team they can offer training to. They are a very popular nursery group, having been awarded Outstanding from Ofsted three times and have increased the number of children able to join them to satisfy demand, opening a new Nursery last year (2021) in Culham Village. Having reached capacity at all 4 of their nurseries they have been in a position to employ more staff who all require training and development. 

Impact

Through the transfer they are able to offer an opportunity for their long standing staff team to complete higher qualifications alongside offering new staff an apprenticeship in childcare impacting the quality of care they are able to offer and retaining staff through continuous development.

Learners

We asked some of their employees to tell us about how they feel about the apprenticeship training.

“I’m looking forward to getting started on my level 5, and keen to learn new and exciting things childcare related to expand my knowledge and skills further”

- Karlea 

“I wanted to complete my level 5 apprenticeship to further my knowledge and also to give myself an opportunity for progression within the company with an additional qualification and skill set”

- Beth

How do transfers work?

Employers who pay the levy and have unused funds are able to support other employers who are looking to receive a transfer. From April 2019, these employers are able to transfer up to 25% of their annual funds. These funds can only be used to pay for training by a Government approved training provider.