Early Years Practitioner - The Lodge Day Nursery

Brighter Futures for Children

Level 2 or Level 3 Early Years Practitioner X 2 posts

The Lodge Day Nursery at Southcote Children’s Centre

Full time, Permanent

About us

Brighter Futures for Children is a not-for-profit company, owned by, but independent of, Reading Borough Council. Although we are independent, we are very much part of the Reading Family. Our people enjoy all of benefits as other Council employees including membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme and continuous service.

We work closely with partners in the local community and key organisations including Reading Borough Council, policy, public health and voluntary groups. We are responsible for the delivery of children’s social care, early help & prevention, education services (including SEND). This also includes fostering and adoption, the Youth Offending Service and traded services with schools.

Our main aim is to protect and enhance the lives of the children of Reading. We help families find long-term solutions to ensure children lead happy, healthy and successful lives.

About the Team/role:

We currently have an opportunity for you to join our fabulous team at The Lodge Day Nursery as qualified Level 2 and/or Level 3 Early Years Practitioner.

The Lodge Nursery at Southcote is a 48-place Day Nursery providing day care and sessional care for children 18 months to 5-year-olds. Due to expansion, we are looking for a passionate and motivated Level 2/or Level 3 qualified Early Years Practitioners.

You will have the privilege of working with the most amazing children and passionate staff within the nursery and part of Brighter Futures for children.

Our practice is underpinned by the value we place on working collaboratively with families with a systemic, holistic whole-family approach to support them in finding their own solutions and building on their strengths.

The children are very important and so is our team. We work closely with our practitioners to ensure that they continue to learn, develop, and share good practices.

Essential Skills and experience:

• Experience of working with children aged 18mths-5 years in an early year setting.
• Excellent communication skills (including verbal, written)
• Level 2 and/or Level 3 in Early Years/Childcare – with passes in English and Maths (where relevant to the certification)

Desirable :

• 12 hour Paediatric first aid qualification

Our offer:

You will be part of a supportive and hardworking, passionate team. You will be paid above the average market rates for this area with opportunities for professional development and progression for the right candidate. The nursery is open from 8am-6pm, five days per week, 51 weeks per year – we are closed between Christmas and the New Year.
We offer working patterns of 4 days of 7.45am - 6.00pm or 5 days of an early or late shifts covering the needs of the nursery. Depending on your shift pattern you will have either a 40- or 60-minute lunch break. A generous annual leave allowance is also included.

We are a fully inclusive, autism friendly, setting supporting children with a range of special educational needs alongside their peers. You will be offered a range of additional training to enable you to support all children in the setting including bespoke SEN training, attention autism, intensive interactions and sensory processing workshops.

We offer a supportive framework to develop your career and provide many opportunities for CPD. You’ll work in a friendly and collaborative environment where we are committed to delivering positive outcomes.
A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:

• Local Government Pension Scheme with generous employer contribution
• Incremental holidays starting with 26 days plus public holidays (rising to 33 after 10 years’ service)
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Season train ticket loans
• Salary Sacrifice Car Lease Scheme
• A range of local shopping discounts
• 30% childcare discount to the end of March 2024, increasing to 50% from April 2024.
• Nursery closure between Christmas and New Year
• Discounted bus travel

Candidates are encouraged to visit the setting prior to making an application.
For further information and to arrange a visit to the nursery please contact: Layla Littlewood, Nursery Manager at Layla.Littlewood@brighterfuturesforchildren.org

Closing date: 21 April 2024
Interview date: To be confirmed

Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Inclusion and Diversity

We want Brighter Futures for Children to be a great place to work and to ensure that our children, young people and families are represented in leadership roles and positions of power. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and those of Other Ethnicities, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our children, young people and families so that equalities and justice remains at the heart of everything we do.

Asking for Adjustments

Brighter Futures for Children is committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and as accessible as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments or changes for disabled people, neurodiverse people or people with long-term health conditions.

If you would like us to do anything differently during the application, interview or assessment process, including providing information in an alternative format, please let us know.

We look forward to hearing from you!