Rachel Wallace, aged 21, completed the newly-launched Department for Education Skills Bootcamp, our three week course held in Liverpool, designed to attract people into early years who have never worked in the sector.
Rachel, who has been diagnosed with autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), then secured a job as a level 3 early years apprentice at Kidsworld Nursery based on East Prescot Road in Liverpool.
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.
“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.
“The team at Realise were brilliant, not only with their training on the course but helping me get an interview within a week of the course finishing.”
More than 100 people in Liverpool will have the chance to follow in Rachel’s footsteps and accelerate into a career in early years after the launch of the Skills Bootcamps.
Realise has begun its ‘apprenticeship accelerator’ programme with the aim of initially recruiting 650 people across the UK to the short course.
While a number of Skills Bootcamp courses are delivered online, Liverpool has been selected as one of the main Skills Bootcamp hubs, where training is delivered face-to-face over a three week course.
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 the learner to anybody not currently employed in the early years sector.
Individuals who complete the Skills Bootcamp will be guaranteed an interview for a job with a local nursery and will automatically be eligible to begin a level 3 apprenticeship when they secure employment.
The already high demand for new workers in early years has been heightened by the new regulations for government funded childcare which were introduced on 1st April 2024 and will be further extended over the next 18 months.
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.”
If you are interested in finding out more about our early years Skills Bootcamp, please email Karen.Derbyshire@realisetraining.com or complete our contact form.
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