At The Mulberry Bush, we provide high-quality early years education across five Hampshire settings—Locks Heath, Bitterne Park, Waterlooville, Eastleigh, and Hedge End. Our recent growth reflects our commitment to supporting children through their vital early development.
Nurturing young minds is at the heart of what we do. Our passionate, diverse team fosters an inclusive, collaborative environment where professional growth and a strong connection to the natural world shape the care we provide.
We highly value our apprentices and the many benefits they bring to our team. We’re committed to supporting their professional and personal development, and feel privileged to be part of their journey. With fresh perspectives and a strong eagerness to learn, apprentices make a meaningful contribution and have a lasting, positive impact on both the children and our wider team.
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“We truly value our apprentices and the fresh perspectives they bring. It’s a privilege to support their development and watch them grow into confident practitioners who make a real difference to our children and team.”
- Donna Hopper, Area Manager & Early Years Training Lead
The Mulberry Bush’s commitment to apprenticeships
At The Mulberry Bush, we believe apprenticeships are a vital part of building a skilled, confident, and future-ready early years workforce. To support this belief, we’ve appointed a dedicated training lead who oversees every apprentice’s journey. Bringing extensive experience in apprenticeships, this role ensures each learner receives meaningful, tailored support—an investment we felt was essential to helping our apprentices thrive.
We actively support our apprentices with regular in-house training that complements their coursework and reinforces key learning. Protected study time is carefully managed, and our training lead is available to offer additional guidance when needed. Apprentices are also encouraged to spend time across our five settings, gaining varied experience to build their skills and confidence. Once qualified, they continue to receive access to training and development, with clear opportunities for progression into more senior roles.
Ongoing development and support
Functional skills—particularly English—can be a challenge for many apprentices and often hold them back from progressing. While we welcome recent changes to the requirements for learners over 19, we remain committed to helping all apprentices achieve the qualifications needed for their role. Strong English skills are essential for observations, assessments, and communication with families and professionals. We continue to work closely with Shaping Lives to support learners in building both their skills and confidence in this area.
We are committed to continuous learning for all team members, whatever their stage in the early years sector. One of our key initiatives is The Mulberry Bush Induction Day—a comprehensive programme for new staff or those needing a refresher. It covers all core areas of the practitioner role, including safeguarding, health and safety, behaviour management, and working with children with SEND. This induction includes a dedicated section for apprentices and guidance for staff on how to support them effectively. Each team member also receives a CPD workbook to complete, which marks the start of their ongoing learning journey. Though still new, this initiative is already proving to be a valuable part of our approach to professional development.
Delivering a bespoke apprenticeship solution
At The Mulberry Bush, we offer a range of apprenticeships to support early years careers at every stage. Our Level 2 and 3 programmes provide a strong foundation for those starting out, while Level 5 qualifications help senior team members build leadership skills. In line with our commitment to inclusive education, we’re also enrolling staff onto the standalone SENDCo qualification with Shaping Lives to further support children with additional needs.
Our experience with Shaping Lives has been overwhelmingly positive. From the beginning, we’ve felt heard, supported, and valued. The team has shown great flexibility, adapting to the needs of our busy settings—for example, by scheduling training workshops at times that suit us. Our dedicated tutor, Angela, has been approachable and responsive. When one of our apprentices faced challenges with a maths exam, Angela quickly stepped in with a personalised support plan. Her detailed feedback, regular check-ins, and increased face-to-face visits have helped keep learners engaged and progressing well.
Strong partnerships and lasting impact
Regular communication is key to our approach. As training lead, I stay closely connected with Angela and Jo at Shaping Lives. Jo’s consistent support—including six-weekly progress meetings and prompt responses to queries—ensures we stay aligned across all five settings.
Apprentices make a real impact at The Mulberry Bush, and we’re proud to support their growth. Watching them develop from quiet beginners into confident, capable practitioners is hugely rewarding. Many go on to lead rooms and support new team members. Their success is reflected in strong pass rates, with many achieving merits and distinctions—results and level of commitment we’re incredibly proud of.
Looking ahead, we’re focused on maintaining our high standard of mentoring and support. To ease the pressure of balancing work and study, we’ve introduced a structured time-out model for apprentices to reflect and learn.
We’re also building our future workforce by engaging with local schools. After attending career fairs, we realised many students didn’t know they could gain work experience with us—so we’ve launched a new programme, with several students joining this May. We’ve also begun hosting informal interviews with Year 11s interested in early years careers—one of whom is now set to start an apprenticeship with us this September. We’re excited to be part of her journey—and many more to come.
