The qualifications needed to run and work in a nursery

There is often a lot of confusion over whether you can open a nursery with no qualifications and what qualifications you need to work in the nursery.

This is what we’ll go through in this video.  By the end of the video you will learn:

• What qualifications you need to work in the nursery
• What you need to know as an owner
• and and with loads of training providers claiming to offer full and relevant qualifications I will also go through how to check whether yours and your staff’s qualifications are recognized by Ofsted

Qualifications needed to work in a nursery

We will start by going through what qualifications your staff need to work in a nursery.

The standard qualification you need to work in a nursery is a level three childcare qualification.

This qualifies you as an early years educator or early years practitioner though not all members of staff need to hold this qualification in order to work in a nursery.  The early years foundation stage or EYFS statutory framework provides us with guidance on what staff and how many staff need to have this qualification.

There are some changes coming in September, if you haven’t already read them make sure you do a link to this document can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2

Although, the changes don’t really affect the qualifications it’s important to refresh and learn what changes are going to happen especially if you haven’t worked in childcare or haven’t been in childcare for a while.

The first thing it states in regards to the qualification is that the manager must have a level 3 qualification.  This is in section 3.28.

It also states that at least one member of staff in a baby must hold a level 3 qualification as in section 3.32 and at least one member of your staff in your other rooms too – for your two to three year olds and your three to five year old as in section 3.33 and section and 3.35.

Another qualification that is recognised is the level two child care qualification, this is applicable where it states that at least half of your staff must have at least a level two qualification as in the sections shown on the screen.

Though, with level two there still needs to be at least one other member of staff that is level three. This means for example if you have three members of staff in the room, one must be at least level three, one must be at least level two and other can be unqualified either a volunteer apprentice or just another paid member of staff.

These are the two main qualifications you need to work in a nursery.

You can get higher qualifications, for example level four or five six or the early years professional status or qualified teacher status.  The last two I mentioned increases the number of children you can care for in terms of ratios.

All the qualifications just give you that extra bit of knowledge, though it is not essential.  The key qualification you need is the level three child care qualification.

If you’re struggling with staffing and need further support for example arranging your staff team organizing ratios etc then make sure you enrol on the full course here.

On the course you will learn everything you need to know in order to open your own nursery.  You will start off by:

1. Researching your chosen area – making sure that there’s sufficient demand in order to make sure your nursery is successful
2. You will then start looking for your building – learning how to find your building and what legal requirements and Ofsted requirements you need to stick to
3. Then you’ll learn about running your business – how to pay tax register as a sole trader partnership company etc as well as how to secure funding and write your business plan
4. Next you’ll learn how to do HMRC – how to recruit and pay staff including ratio requirements
5. Then you’ll learn how to register with Ofsted – what documents need to fill in and how to do so
6. Finally, you learn how to market – to ensure there are loads of children knocking your door on their first day.  This includes how to create your website and learning about search engine optimization and lots of other marketing techniques

So, if you need support in any of this make sure you enrol.

At the moment the course is discounted from £997 to just £249.99.  Though, you can get an extra 10% off using discount code youtube1 so if you do plan to open a nursery enrol now before the discount expires.

Also, if you have any questions about opening a nursery or about the course you can email me at nurserycourseuk@gmail.com.

Checking the qualification

The next question is how do I make sure that the qualification is full and relevant?

Unfortunately, there are a lot of training providers who offer level 3 childcare qualifications which aren’t relevant.  You have to be aware of these as Ofsted will not recognize them.

One way to spot them is to look out for training which is all online.  Be very careful of these as they look just like the diploma but they do not qualify you to work with children within the level 3 ratios.

If you are unsure you can check the qualifications online, the method for checking is complicated and is based on when the qualification was awarded.  As mentioned, I give support on this on the course but I will give a quick overview of how to do it now:

Pre-2014

If it is awarded pre-2014 you can check if it is recognised by Ofsted by clicking the link here downloading the excel document and checking if the qualification is listed on there.

Ofsted have listed all the qualifications it will accept on this document, so if it hasn’t got a yes on here and it was awarded pre-2014 then it would not be considered full and relevant.

Post-2014

Likewise, if it was awarded after September 2014 then you will need to check a separate document.  If the qualification is listed here, then it would be regarded as full relevant. 

You could do the same or similar with the level two qualifications check the excel document to see if it’s listed there. 

Though, another caveat you need to be aware of just to complicate things a little bit more is that anyone who is qualified after 30th of June 2016 either level two or level three must have a paediatric first aid in order to qualify at that level.

So that’s how you ensure the qualification you get and the staff you hire is recognised with Ofsted so now to the main question.

Do you need a qualification to open a nursery?

The short answer is no.

I opened my nursery with no qualifications and got qualified after I opened.  In order to do this you just have to hire a competent manager to run the nursery who does have the relevant for qualifications and experience.

Though, if this is the route you plan to take I recommend that you do get some experience working in a nursery first even just as a volunteer just so you know more about the field you’re going into.  As the owner and named person you are responsible for adhering to Ofsted regulations you are the main contact for Ofsted and you are the main responsibility for safeguarding for the nursery so it’s important you know the EYFS statutory requirements well.