Operations Manager - Innovative Outdoor Nursery

Little Forest Folk is an adventurous and progressive nursery where our teams get to climb trees, toast marshmallows on a campfire, build zip wires and laugh, love and play in the fresh air all day long with amazing children.

Little Forest Folk have six magical outdoor forest nurseries across South West London and are completely child-led and play-based settings, and now also have Liberty Woodland Primary school. We are providing children with an exemplary learning experience to help them become the children most likely to succeed in today’s world.

Due to significant growth over the last four years, Little Forest Folk is looking to recruit a second Operations Manager to support the leadership team, and to partner with the existing Operations Manager.

Little Forest Folk’s Operations Manager role is one for a passionate, organised and driven person who will take on assisting the managing directors and nursery management teams to ensure the ongoing provision of high quality outdoor early childhood education.

The ideal candidate will have worked in a similar style role before within the education sector. The successful candidate will be self-motivated and proactive in approach and must be passionate about working for a fast-growing organisation, as well as have excellent communication skills, effective priority management, and a friendly, approachable manner.

Key Responsibilities

To support and maintain the successful running of existing Little Forest Folk sites:

1. Lead, manage, inspire and motivate nursery managers and leadership team to provide high quality care and education for children in each nursery.
2. Visit and audit nursery sites, both pre-arranged and ‘on the spot’, as well as attending meetings/training at each site.
3. Arrange and run management/leadership meetings.
4. Oversee purchases, budgets and ordering for the nurseries.
5. Work in partnership with the Senior HR Guru (HR Manager) to effectively manage staffing issues such as disciplinaries, absences, recruitment, performance management.
6. Ensure all Little Forest Folk policies and procedures are understood and adhered to.
7. Ensure the safety and wellbeing of children, families and staff is prioritised.
8. Support managers with any queries/complaints from families or staff, ensuring they are dealt with in a timely manner.

To oversee the full cycle of new nursery site development:

1. Working with the Chief Operating Officer and Senior Management Team in the scouting of potential new sites, including liaising with appropriate parties, risk assessments, costing, logistics.
2. Liaising with Councils, Local Authorities and other land owners to negotiate the use of new sites.
3. Support the management team with contract negotiations, Ofsted registration and inspections and integration with the Local Authority.
4. To regularly review all policies and procedures relating to nursery management, amending and updating for new settings as appropriate.
5. To set up all back office systems for new sites, including children and staff files, record keeping, risk assessments, DBS lists, training schedules, assessment on entry and two year checks.
6. The recruitment, design of induction process, on-boarding and training of new staff teams: ensuring they are compliant with all policies and procedures, rota setting, able to use FAMLY and other online learning journey tools/IT in line with company policy and are clear on - and modeling the values of  - Little Forest Folk in everything they do.
7. Working with the Head of Family Experience to ensure a smooth introduction to new nurseries for parents and children, including communications, organising Open Days, Orientation Days and Settling In sessions.
8. To create and purchase other assets that aid the set up of new sites, such as welcome videos, resources etc.
9. Any other activities reasonably required for the role.

Start: Immediate

We believe in looking after the people who look after our children, so our educators enjoy a range of perks such as;

• 28 days annual leave, inclusive of public holidays
• 1 additional day of annual leave after each full year of employment
• A day off on your birthday – everyone should spend their birthday eating cake, not at work!
• Competitive salaries
• Funded Level 3 Forest School Qualification
• Career progression opportunities
• Professional development and in house training with leading names in the Early Childhood industry.
• Social events throughout the year – a chance to hang up the wellies and let your hair down with your teammates!
• Discounts at our favourite outdoor retailers
• The opportunity to work in beautiful Tuscany for a week every year

To apply please send your CV and a covering letter explaining why you would like to join our exciting venture.

If you have any questions about the role, please get in touch with us and take a look at our website