The Children's Workforce Development Council has confirmed that since the programme started in 2006, 7,316 early years practitioners have achieved Early Years Professional Status.
Training company Best Practice Network has now trained 576 EYPs and has 153 currently in training. The company's 500th EYP is nursery owner Sharon Colliers, who runs Fun4Tots nursery in Ossett, Wakefield.
Ms Colliers acquired the nursery seven years ago. A civil servant for 28 years, she continues to work part-time for the Department for Work and Pensions in Leeds as a policy manager. She is also a qualified trainer. Initially, she studied a foundation degree in early years.
Ms Colliers said, 'I'm really, really pleased. It's taken me four-and-a-half years as I did the long pathway.'
She has also just found out that she has been awarded a first class Honours for her BA in Early Childhood Studies from Leeds Metropolitan University, which she studied alongside EYPS.
She said that she was very proud of the fact that her nursery manager was studying for a foundation degree and that her deputy has a Level 4 qualification in management and a Level 5 in leadership.
Ms Colliers said, 'EYPS has really supported me to be a reflective practitioner, especially when working with young children. It's helped me to listen to the needs of young children and also the families and to understand that children are experts in their own right. EYPS sets the bar and that's what my setting uses it for.
'The best place for me is working with the children. I'm really passionate about supporting families and children.'
Maureen Lee, director of Best Practice Network, said, 'We've also set up an EYP network, with a newsletter, a virtual learning environment and an annual conference for all our EYPs. We've created a community where people can share ideas and EYPs can keep in touch with each other.
'We also ran a conference for East Riding Council with discussion groups led by EYPs.'
Nicky Oram, deputy programme manager of Best Practice Network, said that people come from a wide geographical area to train with the company's three regional teams in the south-west, the West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
Ms Oram was herself the 100th EYP to achieve the status.
'I am an early years practitioner and was one of the first candidates to do the short pathway,' she said. 'We've been supporting and training EYPs ever since the pilot scheme.
'At Best Practice a lot of our tutors, mentors and assessors are still working in early years settings.'