University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust
Apprentice Nursery Practitioner
The closing date is 26 May 2026
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to offer a fantastic opportunity to work with us.
Please see below for the detailed job description.
Main duties of the job
Are you kind, caring and enthusiastic? We are looking for special candidates who love children and want to make working with them their career.
This is a great opportunity to work with a friendly and knowledgeable team learning to provide high standards of care and education to children aged 3 months to 5 years old, and completing an Early Years Apprenticeship.
Taplins operates two purpose built day nurseries supporting our local NHS staff. Being part of the UHS family means you will have access to great benefits such as generous holiday allowance and a discount scheme.
We're open Monday Friday from 7 am to 6.30 pm so you'll work a variety of shifts within this time. We look after up to 52 children a day in our purpose built nursery with generous outdoor space, and have a great reputation for developing supportive relationships with the children and families who attend.
About us
University Hospital Southampton is one of England's largest acute teaching trusts, offering a wide range of learning and development opportunities to support your career aspirations.
Located on the south coast with an international airport and direct rail links to London, Southampton offers an ideal setting to live and work, with the New Forest, South Downs and Jurassic Coast.
Job responsibilities
- Work with experienced members of our nursery team to learn care for small groups of children.
- Promote each child's development through activities such as reading stories, singing, tea parties, garden exploration and painting.
- Complete an Early Years Apprenticeship course, gaining a qualification to start your career.
We are looking for candidates who are calm, kind, caring, enthusiastic about working with children and their families, committed, reliable and able to work closely with others.
Preparation to work hard to learn both in nursery and in your college course, always improving ourselves and our nursery is very important to us.
If this sounds like you, we would love to meet you!
Person Specification Qualifications, knowledge and experience
- Good standard of secondary education with literacy and numeracy skills demonstrable to GCSE pass level or equivalent.
- Willingness and ability to undertake Level 3 Qualification in Early Years and Childcare.
- Willingness and ability to undertake Food Safety training.
- Demonstrates enthusiastic approach to working with children and learning practically within nursery.
- Able to provide relevant activity ideas and care for children.
- Current paediatric and/or first aid at work certificate.
- Current food hygiene certificate.
- Recent previous experience of working with 3 months-5 year olds within a childcare setting.
Trust Values and Behaviours
- Patients First
- Always Improving
- Working Together
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and requires a Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Salary
Depending on experience: £24,852.56 per annum, pro rata.
