Nursery Manager

Job title:Nursery Manager

Location: Les Petites Etoiles – Tufnell Park N7 0ND

Salary: From £40,000 to £47,800

Contract: Full time, Permanent

Holiday: 7 weeks of paid holiday

An exciting opportunity has arisen in our Good rated nursery. Our existing manager is leaving this Summer, and we are looking for an experienced manager. The right candidate can start anytime between now and September.

Our Ethos

Les Petites Etoiles is a Good rated bilingual nursery, which offers excellent teacher ratios and care. We admit children to Les Petites Etoiles from the age of 8 months until they are 4 years old.

We aim to provide very high-quality blended EYFS and Montessori childcare in a nurturing bilingual environment. We want and aim to provide a loving, safe and homely environment where our children can follow ‘their inner teacher’ and develop at their own pace at a time when their mind is at its most absorbent.

We wish to create a nurturing environment for the children, parents, and team. Kindness, compassion, and care should be evident in everything. We aim to be ethical and honest in everything we do. This might require us to have an honest or difficult conversation with someone – but we have control over the manner in which we do it, and kindness should still be evident in these situations.

We aim to respect and train our team, as we know that the quality of our nurseries depends on the quality of our staff. For this reason, we invest heavily in our team and their training. We have an equal opportunities policy. We have a strong emphasis on Staff Welfare, because they deserve it, and children benefit from it also.

It is a tremendous honour to be given the responsibility to look after other people’s children – and we take this very seriously, and we do so with pride.

Nursery Manager Job Specification

Responsible to: Head Office Team, Ofsted

Responsible for: Overall responsibility for the nursery, legal responsibility for Health & Safety &the EYFS welfare requirement (the Nominated person), all staff, communications with parents, implementing and leading on policies & procedures. You will see below that the manager list of responsibilities does not include a group of key children. This role essentially does not involve working directly with the children.

Below are various areas of responsibility with examples of key duties (this list is not exhaustive)

Promoting Quality of Teaching through sequenced learning

Our educational ethos is rooted in delivering outstanding teaching, guided by a structured, sequenced, and ambitious curriculum. Our approach hinges on three pivotal aspects: intent, implementation, and impact.

• Strategic Curriculum Development: In collaboration with our Senior Management implement a rich, ambitious, and developmentally appropriate curriculum, emphasising sequenced learning to cater to the unique developmental stages and needs of our children. Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum, adjusting as needed to meet the evolving needs of the children.
• Pedagogical Leadership: Support and lead the team to ensure all “practitioners’ subject, pedagogical content and knowledge consistently builds and develops over time, and this consistently translates into improvements in the teaching of the curriculum”.
• Adaptive and Reflective Approach: Employ a Growth Mindset, continuously adapting teaching strategies and reflecting on practices to enhance the effectiveness of learning.
• Continuous improvement: Stay abreast of developments in early childhood education and incorporate innovative practices to enhance the educational program.
• Comprehensive Knowledge in Child Education and Development: Possess in-depth understanding of all 7 areas of the EYFS and the Ofsted Inspection Handbook, including competencies in 'in the moment' planning, phonics, vocabulary acquisition, positive behaviour management, and the principles of sequenced learning as well as other topics.
• Focused Staff Training and Development: Support the staff to be proficient in the curriculum, with particular emphasis on understanding, implementing, and communicating sequenced learning. Organise and conduct Continuous Professional Development (CPD) tailored to individual and team needs, aimed at achieving high standards in our sequenced curriculum and best practice.
• Desirable Additional Knowledge (Not Mandatory): Familiarity with Montessori and Pikler approaches, especially their views on sequenced learning, is a valuable asset.

Parents as partners

The parents of the child we are caring for are our customers. Many have questions, some need a lot of reassurance, all of them are to be respected and listened to. A fantastic manager earns their trust. Childcare happens in partnership with the parents and is responsive to their needs & expectations.
Examples:

• Showing potential new parents around the nursery and answering their questions
• The manager has ultimate responsible for talking to parents from when children first arrive/settle with us to when they leave.
• The manager deals with queries and solves problems for parents where appropriate.
• Preparing and sending a newsletter for the parents

Leadership of the team

A team needs a leader who will guide them and help them. As a manager you will help the team deliver consistently outstanding childcare. A great manager helps bring out the best in people.

Examples:

• To be a Line Manager and provide support and supervision to all other members of staff, junior staff and volunteers. Carrying out regular staff supervision and recording as appropriate, as well as conducting appraisals.
• To introduce and welcome new members of staff to the team.
• To guide the nursery practitioners to follow best-practice and our policies.
• To check the planning and delivery of a curriculum suitable to meet the needs of children, and helping the team find time for weekly planning meetings and non-contact time.
• Recognising the strengths of each member of staff and explaining their areas for improvement.
• Regularly observe classrooms to ensure the vision, mission statement and curriculum of the nursery are met.
• To organise/supervise staff.
• Conduct regular staff meetings with room leaders to discuss educational goals, share resources, and foster a collaborative learning environment.

Excellent Organisation

A nursery thrives on great organisation. The organisation of the manager makes all the difference. This ensures everything important is achieved on time, and in the correct way.

Examples:

• The manager must ensure they have a reasonable knowledge and understanding of current relevant legislation in relation to childcare.
• To ensure the nursery, staff, policies & procedures comply with OFSTED & other statutory requirements.
• Ensuring our menus are followed, and that any nutritional, religious or dietary needs are met, and allergies carefully controlled.
• The planning and filing of relevant records including the keeping of children's personal details for emergency purposes, the keeping of an accident record file, attendance register, outings records file, medicine records file, and any other mandatory records including receiving and noting fees and invoices to parents.
• Updating the register and other spreadsheets to assist with bills to parents (LPE only)
• Many other general administrative tasks ranging from paying cheques into the bank account, dealing with all telephone calls, ordering supplies & food, filing bills, maintenance of employees or student files, Health & Safety including risk-assessments, fire drills records, food temperature records, first aid box, and conducting the fire drill.
• Completing action plans, and also devising and following-up new action plans as required
• Correcting and approving observations and diaries before sending them to the parents.
• A key responsibility is ensuring the nursery operates at our target occupancy.
• Any other administrative duties, as required by the needs of the Nursery.

Ensuring safeguarding & welfare

Nothing can be more important than keeping the children safe.

Examples:

• Ensuring our safeguarding policy is followed: We aim to never leave one member of staff alone with the children in a room/space – reminding everyone and making certain that there are always two people in the room with children at all times, and that no mobile phones are used at any time.

• Conduct (or supervise a delegated) daily Risk Assessment, as well as various other assessments at various intervals.

• Overseeing the planning and delivery of relevant records and profile reports in relation to children's individual progress. Ensuring that regular termly meetings are arranged with parents to deliver a written profile report to the parent in which both the Manager and key person are to be present. Reports are to be signed and filed.

• The manager will be the Designated Safeguarding Lead DSL

• The manager is responsible for creating a culture of vigilance within the nursery.

• The manager should complete the necessary training and updates to keep up to date on safeguarding regulations and requirements.

Required Qualifications:
Ideally Level 6 (BA Degree in Early Years) with or Early Years Professional Status, QTS, EYTS, etc.

Required Experience:

Ideally several years’ experience as manager.
Required Skills:

• Leadership skills
• Thorough knowledge of the EYFS
• Understanding of the Montessori Pedagogy
• Relationship with staff
• Effective communication with parents
• Modelling best practice
• Good level of spoken and written English. This is an absolutely required skill. With good spoken and written English, we are able to give you responsibility to write reports, ILPs and talk to parents. Our nurseries specialise in language skills, and ability here is an absolute “must”. All applicants will have a written English test.
• Competent IT skills (Word, simple Excel)

Required emotional characteristics:

• Confidence as a leader
• Great listening skills
• Stable and dependable
• Problem solving & positive can-do attitude.
• Resilient (strong) yet also caring and great empathy
• Able to take constructive criticism.
• Able to be self-reflective to constantly improve.

Desirable Skills - valued but not essential.

• Proven Leadership in High-Quality Settings: Experience as a manager in a nursery with an 'Outstanding' Ofsted rating. Your tenure should reflect stability and excellence in leadership.
• Training and Development Expertise: Ability to conduct impactful training sessions, especially during our seven annual inset days. Topics include 'in the moment' training, continuous provision, and the 'three I’s' in planning. Candidates who progress to advanced interview stages will be asked to deliver a 30-minute training demonstration.
• Skilled Orator: Good public speaking abilities, capable of engaging and inspiring staff and parents.
• Coaching Excellence: Proven track record in mentoring and elevating the performance of all team members, including those with professional developmental needs.
• Team Empowerment: Demonstrated ability in fostering a supportive and motivated team environment, with ability to delegate effectively.
• Pedagogical Expertise: Exceptional knowledge in child development and various educational methodologies, including Montessori. Ability to discuss these topics academically and spontaneously is highly regarded.

A great place to work:

• Generous Holidays: Enjoy up to 7 weeks of paid holiday.
• Supportive Sick Pay Policy: We care about your health.
• Continuous Learning: Benefit from high-quality training and 10 paid inset days yearly.
• Further Education Funding: We support longer courses in Montessori, Leadership, and more.
• Recognition and Prizes: Be rewarded for your hard work every term.
• Celebrating Milestones: A special trip for those completing 10 years with us.
• Nursery paid events: Join in on our exciting staff events: a changing range of events such as yoga, summer drinks, bowling etc.
• Cycling Support: Get help for your bike commute.
• Wellbeing Program: Prioritizing your health and happiness.
• Delicious Perk: Enjoy free organic homemade food – a healthy treat for our staff.
• Free Counselling: Access to independent, confidential counselling services.

Safeguarding

• Children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind.

• We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

All references will be thoroughly checked, and we will apply for a DBS update service as well as a DBS equivalent from any country the applicant was in prior to the UK and within the last 5 years.

Equal Opportunities

We are an equal opportunity employer and consider all qualified applicants equally without regard to age, gender reassignment, being married or in a civil partnership, being pregnant or on maternity leave, disability, race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.