Career Choices – Nursery Nurse



If you like working with children, why not consider a career as a nursery nurse working in a nursery environment as part of a team of nurses providing care to babies and children. The children are normally young, from about 3 months until they are old enough to start school, and you will need to be comfortable with all ages in this range. You will need to be caring and patient as the children may be upset at being away from their parents.

You will need an NVQ in childcare before you are able to work, and this means getting at least 5 GCSEs at grade ‘C’ or above, so that you can apply for this course. Some nurseries will have apprentices on site. However, this is expensive for them, more so than other trades, as they are not legally allowed to leave you with a child unless there is another qualified member of staff present. If you sign up to the course you will do your placements in this way, spending a week to a month in a nursery setting, getting involved practically in the care of the children, but not being left in charge or alone.

Nursery nurses will have to be checked by the CRB teams to make sure that they are considered safe to work with children. This is just a form that has to be filled in, and can normally be taken care of by your employer or college.

Was this post helpful?