York College student Hannah Sutton to train as a Norland Nanny

DRESSED all in black, with her hair loosely tied up in a bun and nails painted a Tiffany blue, Hannah Sutton looks every inch the modern teenager.

Her immaculately groomed make-up casts her more as a young Cheryl Cole than Mary Poppins. Yet it is the fictional nanny that is her role model.

Come September, Hannah will be enrolling at the elite Norland College in Bath, embarking on a four-year course that will bring her a degree in early years child development, but also the prestigious Norland diploma in nannying.

Norland Nannies – or Norlanders – are the creme de la creme of the industry and are highly sought after by the rich, famous and royalty.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have employed a Norlander to look after Prince George, as did the Duchess of York and Princess Anne. Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall also used Norland Nannies.

Norlanders can earn big bucks, with salaries starting at £23,000 per year, rising to £75,000. Then there are the perks.

Hannah says: “It depends whether you get a wealthy family. Some nannies get bought cars, get taken on holiday and even get bought a flat.”.

York College student Hannah Sutton who is to train to be a Norland Nanny                

For that amount of financial outlay, clients are expecting something a bit special – and that’s exactly what Norland College promises to provide.

Students are expected to wear uniform, including formal hat and gloves, as well as master domestic skills such as cooking (on an Aga, of course), needlework and First Aid. They also have to practise self-defence and driving fast and in dangerous conditions – to prepare them for dealing with the paparazzi or any kidnap attempt of their charges.

“You learn how to fend off the paparazzi while still keeping one hand on the pram, or while protecting the child,” explains Hannah, 18, of Bishopthorpe, who is studying for a National Diploma in Children’s Care and Development at York College.

“We learn how to drive properly so that if someone is chasing us, we can get away safely. We learn how to skid safely and also have lifeguard training.”

Fees at the college are around £13,000 a year and the compulsory uniform will set Hannah back £800.

Surprisingly, she is looking forward to turning out every day in the Fifties-style brown dress and coat with coordinating hat and gloves.

“I love the uniform. Most people look at it and think it is horrible, that it is really old fashioned, but I really like it. I like wearing a uniform – I have to wear one in my part-time job at Middlethorpe Hall.”

The dress code is strictly enforced too.

“You have to wear gloves and the hat all the time while travelling between your house and college. Hair must be scraped off your face and tied back in a ballet net, in line with the eyes and ears. A uniform inspector comes round to make sure our uniforms are just perfect and there are no creases.”

Luckily, ironing is on the curriculum too.

Hannah hopes the course will lead to a gold-ticket job overseas. “I want to go to Dubai and work there. This gives me the perfect opportunity. The royal family over there only employ Norland Nannies purely because they speak English and can teach their children English.”

But Hannah knows she has four years of hard work ahead of her, combining the academic rigours of studying for a degree with the practical challenges of learning how to be a world-class nanny.

She believes her two years at York College have stood her in good stead. She decided against taking A Levels at Fulford School, where she took her GCSEs, and embarked on the two-year childcare diploma at York College. The qualification is the equivalent of A Levels and Hannah believes its vocational bent helped her secure one of the coveted places at Norland College for 2015.

She said: “They were very impressed with me because I had done a vocational course and most of the girls had done A Levels.”

During the course at York College, students examine the theory of child development, including how children learn through play. They also learn how to care for babies, including bathing and changing nappies – practising on life-sized newborn dolls.

There is plenty of practical work too, and Hannah has worked in a mix of settings, from schools and nurseries as well as a placement with a York family with three young children.

Ultimately, she would like to be a primary school teacher, working with infants.

She said: “If you want a family of your own, nannying isn’t really a job you can do for the rest of your life. I’ll do it for four or five years than move on to something else.”