Nursery jobs in United Kingdom

Are you passionate about early childhood education and leading a team to create a nurturing, stimulating environment for young learners? We are looking for a level 6 or above practitioner with at least 2 years of experience who is passionate about working with children aged 2 years and above. Join a vibrant & outstanding nursery as a dedicated Room Manager within our Peter Pan room ensuring high standards of care and education for children. Possessing excellent knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the OFSTED inspection framework, you will oversee the planning & implementation of activities, and manage staff within the room.

Role Purpose

To work in partnership with the manager to ensure the day-to-day operation of the nursery is kept to high standards, in line with company policy and ensuring compliance with the Children Act 2006 (Childcare and Education Law) and associated Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, all relevant Health and Safety, Employment Law legislation and any actions set by Ofsted. To have a clear understanding of what philosophy your setting is following.

Commit to the Company’s HEART values and ensure they are strongly embedded within the nursery environment.

Childcare & Education

• Managers must monitor the Key Person system to ensure that all staff provide their key children with the care and support to enable children to build strong trusting relationships in a stimulating atmosphere. Deputies must assist the Room Manager to achieve this.
• Work with the staff in the room in the planning and preparation of activities to develop all aspects of the child’s individual development.
• Provide a stimulating welcoming environment and a wide range of activities which ensure that children are highly motivated and eager to join in each day.
• Ensure all staff keep their key children’s developmental records and observations up to date and share the recorded information regularly with parents.
• Ensure that all reports including two-year-old checks are completed in a timely fashion and to the agreed standards.
• To carry out monthly planning cycle is implemented securely to support long term learning and executive function in line with the settings curriculum design across the whole provision which must be reflective of and link to termly learning intentions and termly curriculum maps.
• To ensure that each member of staff in each room has been allocated an area/zone of responsibility to plan for and maintain and completes a HOPES Sheet following monthly planning cycle.
• To check FAMLY/Website for annual special days, parent days and events and ensure special days and events follow settings annual event schedule by communicating to room managers and teams and supporting with the co-ordination and management of special days, parent days and events.
• Any resources required for the monthly planning should be submitted to the deputy manager in advance.
• To ensure planned activities are set out consistently each day and extended and reflect the settings pedagogical approach, the EYFS and breath and scope of the Children’s Voices Curriculum and accreditations and awards.
• To ensure key person/secondary key person displays are regularly updated and displayed in all rooms.
• To ensure that the outdoor provision is planned for covering the requirements of the EYFS learning and development requirements.
• To support the setting manager in the implementation of research and evidence informed practice and strategies.
• To have a sound understanding of the Ofsted Early Years Inspection Framework and the grade descriptors Quality of education, Behaviour and attitudes, Personal development, Leadership and Management. Including the EYFS Statutory Framework 2020.

Assessment Role

• To support the setting manager in ensuring that all children’s next steps are displayed in the room and reviewed and changed or extended each month linked to milestones in termly learning intentions/curriculum map. All next steps must be dated.
• To assess to ensure that all next steps are age and stage appropriate and accurately linked to the Birth to five/Development matters in all rooms.
• To assist the Nursery managers with the end of year reports for the pre-school room children and ensure they are sent to the allocated schools in a timely manner.
• To monitor to ensure that next steps have been shared with parents and carers on FAMLY and to ensure parents have contributed to children’s learning journeys on FAMLY by sharing examples of each child’s interest, new achievements or next steps from home (once a month).
• To action planning and next steps link to and reflect learning intentions document/curriculum.
• To carry out termly summative assessments and ensure deadlines are met.
• To ensure all termly summative assessments, internal and external transition forms to rooms and external services and/or primary school follow the settings transition policy and procedures/curriculum and assessment calendar and to ensure all staff meet set deadlines and support the setting manager and room managers in proof reading and ensuring transition forms are submitted by all rooms and staff.
• To complete 2-year checks by the age of 28 months and proofreading 2 year checks before being sent out to parents and professionals.
• To ensure that targets set on termly support plans for children with SEND/EAL are shared with teams and key persons and accessible in SEND File.
• To ensure that HOPES sheet is completed by the team on a weekly basis and stored in the room.

Parent Partnership

• Work in partnership with parents to provide consistent high quality, non-discriminatory childcare which meets the needs of each individual child and family, and which enables the child to realise his/her full potential and achieve a good self- image and self-esteem.
• To follow annual calendar and communicate to rooms parent days and events.
• To ensure rooms are daily posting pictures of daily activities in rooms on FAMLY.
• To ensure that key persons are requesting for parents to contribute to the FAMLY APP and sharing information on children’s interest, next steps and achievements.
• To ensure that termly summative assessments are completed each term followed by termly parent meetings. (Summative assessments must be linked to milestones set within termly learning intentions.)
• To ensure that 2-year checks are completed at 2 years 4 months, proof read and shared with parents and health visitors.
• To oversee parents evening and any other events which cover parental partnership.
• To support rooms in preparing for parent days and events.
• To promote the nursery to current parents and potential customers.
• To ensure that all staff develop and maintain friendly and professional relationships with parents and carers.
• To monitor the quality of rooms and feedback at the end of day and language and vocabulary used with parents at and around drop off and pick up times.
• To manage the presentation and co-ordination of the Book library system and manage and develop sign in and sign out library card system.
• To issue parents and children awards, prizes and certificates.

Routine Role

• To ensure that all routines in all rooms are consistent throughout the nursery day AM and PM across the baby, toddler and pre-school rooms including routines for outdoor play, forest school, trips and outings.
• To ensure that routines for independent snack is implemented and followed consistently each day.
• To ensure the quality of routines in rooms and ensure that there are no long waiting periods during all transitions for snack, mealtimes, trips, outings and outdoor play.
• To follow procedures for head counting when transitioning throughout the whole setting.
• To monitor to ensure cooking experiences are taking place as identified on monthly planning sheets.
• To ensure you are regularly reviewing all messages sent from parents on the FAMLY App and sharing information with your team.
• To ensure helper of the day systems are implemented consistently at all snack and mealtimes.
• To ensure you and your team are using now and next systems for children who require this system consistently indoors and outdoors.

Environment Set up & Breakdown

• To monitor the cleanliness, hygiene and organisation of your rooms across the whole provision by using the cleaning checklist.
• To ensure HOPES Sheet is completed in your room by zone leaders.
• To ensure that you have allocated and designated a member of staff to each zone in each room who is responsible for the organisation and maintenance of the resources in the continuous provision in their zone.
• To ensure that all resources and equipment is age appropriate and reflects the settings pedagogical approach.

Teaching Role

• To deliver and monitor the effectiveness of staff’s engagement and teaching practice in rooms and ensure staff:
• High quality interactions and go down to children’s level.
• Promote back and forth interactions.
• Engage in play, interaction and conversations with children.
• Allow children time to think and respond during communications.
• Implement and follow the SHREC Approach to teaching and learning.
• Introduce children to key words and new vocabulary.
• Implement the Ofsted definition of teaching.
• To ensure “Talk Time programmes” is taking place in your room.
• To support monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching by ensuring all staff have identified what new words and vocabulary will be introduced to children through planned activities identified on HOPES Sheets.
• To ensure that Talk Time for Mathematics is implemented in the Pre School-Rooms.
• To ensure Makaton sign of the week is consistently implemented as identified on planning sheet and during snack and mealtimes for the key words please, more and thank you.
• To record Makaton sign of the week and ensure video is sent out to parents and carers.
• To support the setting manager in undertaking staff observations and to provide training and coaching to staff to develop and enhance their teaching practice.

Outdoor Provision

• To support the setting manager in ensuring that daily prior to children accessing the outdoor provision risk assessments have been undertaken.
• To ensure that the breath and scope of the EYFS the settings pedagogical approach and Children’s Voices Curriculum is reflected in the Outdoor provision.
• To ensure that the 7 areas of learning is covered in the range of activities and planning accessible in the outdoor provision.
• To support the setting manager in the development and maintenance of outdoor growing patches, water butt and compost bin systems.
• To communicate with your teams to ensure the outdoor provision is set up daily and broken down following the outdoor garden rota consistently each day.

Health & Safety Role

• To ensure that daily AM and PM checklist are completed in your room.
• To ensure settings risk assessment is completed daily.
• To ensure staff follow procedures for hand washing before snack and mealtimes and engage in discussions around the importance of hygiene practices.
• To ensure that you and your staff are adequately deployed and seated with children at all snack and mealtimes.
• To ensure that staff are seated with children when handling tools and equipment such as knives and scissors or during tinkering experiences.
• To ensure first aid boxes are accessible in your room and replenished and to ensure that all accidents and incidents for both children and staff are logged and reported to setting manager.
• To be responsible for the Health and Safety standards appropriate for the needs of young children and ensuring staff compliance and awareness.
• Assisting with the keeping and monitoring of accident, incident, medication forms, risk assessment and attendance.
• To ensure high standards of hygiene and cleanliness are always maintained across the provision.

Children’s Personal Care

• To monitor the quality of children’s personal care routines in rooms and to ensure children’s privacy needs are respected during nappy changes and when changing clothing.
• To ensure all staff promote self-service for serving food and pouring drinks at snack and mealtimes.
• To ensure that all staff promote independence in relation to putting on coats, socks and shoes always.
• To ensure that all staff are directing children to independently always use nose stations in rooms.
• To monitor rooms to ensure that all staff are monitoring children’s physical well-being in relation to clothing and faces.
• To ensure that safeguarding policies and procedures for bottle feeding and sleep procedures are adhered to by all staff.
• To ensure all staff and rooms are following the settings sleep policy procedure.
• To ensure that rooms are following policies and procedures in relation to the positioning of children for sleep and carrying out 10-minute sleep checks.
• To ensure all staff and parents and carers adhere to settings sickness and exclusion periods.

Welfare & Safeguarding

• To ensure parents have acknowledged ALL accidents and incidents via FAMLY App.
• To ensure children and room registers are signed out at the end of the day specifically lunch breaks.
• To ensure hourly ratio checks are completed in all rooms and to ensure all rooms are always in ratio and plan as and when required.
• To ensure risk assessments for the setting, soft play areas, sensory room, outdoor play areas and trips and outings are undertaken.
• To ensure that all rooms are following set policies and procedures in relation to prescribed and non-prescribed medication in all rooms.
• To ensure that all rooms are following set policies and procedures in relation to pre-existing injuries.
• To ensure all rooms follow set policies and procedures in relation to first aid, reporting and recording of accidents and incidents including head injuries and bites follow procedure.
• To ensure all accidents and incidents are reported immediately to setting manager.
• To ensure documentation in relation to allergies is up to date and allergy systems are in place at mealtimes.
• To ensure that staff are always seated with children at snack and mealtimes in line with statutory framework.
• To comply with all areas of the Treehouse Nursery School Safeguarding policy.
• To ensure outdoor area is safe and secure for children to use and appropriate resources are deployed following the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.
• To ensure that drop off and pick up policies and procedures are followed across the provision including systems for signing out all children.
• To support the setting manager in distributing monthly safeguarding quizzes.
• To attend safeguarding training, forums and to keep own safeguarding knowledge up to date.
• To support the setting manager in undertaking monthly fire drills and intruder drills and to ensure the setting evacuation bag is always replenished and accessible in the office.
• To ensure that all serious accidents, incidents, emergencies or notifiable incidents to Ofsted are reported to HR manager, setting manager, area manager immediately.

Staffing Role

• To carry out inductions for new staff, students, agency workers and volunteers on their first day of work and ensure that information on DSL’s, how to report concerns, whistle blowing policies and procedures, information on children with allergies and where to find information on next steps is explained clearly to new recruits, and bank and agency staff. Including the settings mobile phone policy.
• To monitor staffs’ performance through monitoring and supportively challenging under performance and supporting the setting manager in carrying out peer on peer observations supervision meetings, including identifying staffs training needs to improve practice.
• To lead, manage, coach and mentor the apprentices, students and volunteers and conduct meetings with college tutors to discuss their placement progress.
• To assist with the planning and organisation of staffing schedules and holiday rotas to ensure adequate staffing levels are maintained in accordance with the Nursery procedures.
• To cover staff shortages this may include staff sickness, absence and holidays.
• Develop open and positive working relationships with staff and manage or report staff conflicts to setting manager to maintain a positive culture within setting.
• To role model and promote the settings HEART Values.
• Work in conjunction with Human Resources in disciplinary and grievance investigations, hearings and note taking.

Operational Role

• To be available to accommodate visitors from outside agencies.
• To ensure the correct information and ethos of Treehouse Nursery School is conveyed to all visitors and show good impressions to all people who come through the door.
• Liaise with the Redbridge Early Years Team and other professionals associated with the Nursery.
• To liaise with the Receptionist to ensure home visits are planned well in advance and carry out home visits with the Key Person.
• Work in partnership with parents to provide consistent high quality, non-discriminatory childcare which meets the needs of each individual child and family and which enables the child to realise his/her full potential and achieve a good self- image and self-esteem.
• To work and liaise with parents and Nursery Manager when moving existing children to a new room and ensure they have a smooth settling in. Consider each child’s development goals before moving them to the next room.
• Welcome parents and children on their settling in days and assist them in the room.
• To support the deputy managers in overseeing the parent’s evenings.
• Promote the nursery to current parents and potential customers.
• Ensure that all staff develop and maintain friendly and professional relationships with parents and carers.
• To log staff information on nursery management software and ensure this is current and up to date.
• To monitor the quality of rooms and feedback at the end of day and language and vocabulary used with parents at and around drop off and pick up times.
• It is your responsibility to ensure that the food is labeled with the allergy stickers and are placed before the food is served to the children.
• Ensure weekly photos of all ZONES and writeups in the room are sent to the Nursery Manager for the parent newsletter.

General Role

• Support the Nursery Manager in the management of the nursery.
• To support the setting manager in completely daily rotas.
• Assist the Nursery Manager in evaluating Company practice using Self Evaluation tools such as Ofsted SEF, RAG RATING and Action Plans.
• Assist the Nursery Manager in delivering agreed occupancy targets.
• Ensure all daily routines are adhered to and records kept up to date. Carry out nursery audits such as resources, accidents, first aid etc in your room.

Leadership & Management

• To be the first point of contact in addressing staff and parent queries.
• To develop a thorough knowledge of all the Company’s operational policies and procedures; ensuring that they are followed and always respected.
• Liaise with the Redbridge Early Years Team and other professionals associated with the Nursery when required by management.
• Ensure that nursery policies and procedures and Ofsted regulations are always met.
• To ensure there is a smooth transition from room to room and it is managed effectively.
• To be fully up to date with the welfare requirements of the “Early Years Foundation Stage” and ensure that your practice meets and aims to exceed the requirement.
• Work in partnership with parents to provide consistent high quality, non-discriminatory childcare which meets the needs of each individual child and family, and which enables the child to realise his/her full potential and achieve a good self- image and self-esteem.
• Welcome parents and children on their settling in days and assist them in the room.
• Promote the nursery to current parents and potential customers.
• Ensure that all staff develop and maintain friendly and professional relationships with parents and carers.

Building an Effective Team/Team working

• To create a culture for effective and supportive team working and collaborative relations.
• To foster an environment for effective communication amongst teams and individual staff members.
• To defuse any staff concerns or complaints before they escalate and affect team working and to create a positive culture for relations and effective team working within the setting.
• To build and maintain a professional relationship with all staff.
• To maintain and review Monday.com to ensure all Nursery audits are carried out such as medication, first aid box, fire, risk assessment etc.
• To manage and support the Bank Staff, such as carrying out supervision reviews, return to work, performance reviews, investigations, inductions etc.

Continuous Professional Development

• To attend all staff/team meetings and staff training scheduled out of working hours, if needed and log on Evolia & BambooHR.
• Keep informed of any changes and updates in the EYFS statutory framework and Ofsted inspection framework.
• To continually evaluate and reflect on own practice.
• To attend all CEO and staff meetings.

To apply, please forward a CV and covering letter detailing your suitability for the role.

Closing Date: 22 November 2024