Careers

Careers

You may be a fully trained and qualified childcare practitioner or someone who is looking for a rewarding career in childcare.

Whatever your background, age or experience there are opportunities to work with children at Portland Nurseries. With expanding facilities across four settings we are able to offer experience with all age groups and real career progression.

Portland Nurseries offers a wide range of benefits for all our staff members; flexible working hours; training and development; private health care; pensions; uniform; staff loyalty and bonus schemes.

Apprenticeships… a path to a rewarding career

What is an apprenticeship?

The Government’s definition of an apprenticeship is:

“A paid job where the employee learns and gains valuable experiences . Alongside on-the-job training, apprentices spend at least 20%*of their working hours completing classroom-based learning with a college, university or training provider which leads to a nationally recognized qualification.” *This equates to an average of 6 hours per week on a 30-hour week. Apprenticeships are a way of providing hands-on experience with a formal assessment, which leads to a nationally recognised qualification. One of the best parts, however is that the person is learning on the job and because it is a job, they get paid a wage whilst learning. Our apprenticeships lead on to further employment at the end of the training period.

How are apprenticeships funded?

Many courses for young people (16 – 18) are fully funded by the Government. Apprentices are paid minimum wage at least, but this can be covered 100% by the Government if they are aged 16 – 18. Most apprenticeships for older people carry substantial Government funding too.

More information: National Apprenticeship Week

Training and Development

At Portland Nurseries we are committed to the ongoing training and development of our staff team, to enable everyone to reach their full career potential. We offer a wide range of opportunities, and seek to continually improve the quality of our service by developing the skills, knowledge and individual capabilities of our staff.

This begins the moment you join the company. All our staff undertake a 3 month induction programme with a specified mentor, which provides a valuable introduction to the company, the nursery and your position within the company.

Training opportunities are available to help managers and staff members build on their existing skills. These include:

• Internal training courses
• Management development courses
• External courses and conferences
• 'On the job' training
• Personal development plans & appraisals
• Coaching and mentoring
• The sharing of best practice
• Professional development and qualifications including foundation and honour degrees and Early Years Professional Status

You can read about all the ways we support staff wellbeing here.

Staff Wellbeing

We have a duty to make sure that the children receive the best possible care and in order to that we need to ensure that our staff are happy in their work.

Portland Nurseries puts a huge focus on staff wellbeing by offering:

• An Annual Wellbeing Day - paid leave
• Wellbeing Boxes
  
• Simply Health Cash Back Scheme
• Continuous Training & Development
• Team Building Days
• Free & Discounted Childcare
• Long Service Recognition & Bonuses
• Flexible Working
• Free Tea, Coffee & Fruit
• Recommend a Friend Scheme
• Annual Awards Celebration Evening

Equal Opportunities

Portland Nurseries stands in solidarity with all who fight for greater justice and equality, and against racism, violence and all forms of discrimination

Equality and Diversity is at the heart of our thriving, vibrant, and inclusive environment where young children, our staff team and families are given the opportunity to explore and celebrate their own differences and those of others. Most importantly, each and every person feels part of the same community in which their own uniqueness is valued. Every member of our nursery community is treated fairly, with respect and dignity.

We operate an equal opportunities policy both for the children in our care and the staff we employ. Discrimination under sex, race, religion, colour, creed, marital status, ethnic or national origin, or political belief, has no place within Portland Nurseries. We understand that each child and adult is an individual with their own particular needs, which should be nurtured and developed.