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Nursery Manager

Employer
The Barn Education Association
Location
Kew, London (Greater)
Salary
£37,896 FTE (£21,655 pro rata for 20 hrs per week) + 3% pension + holidays
Closing date
16 Jun 2021

View more

Contract Type
Permanent
Hours
Part Time
Function
Management
Sector
Nursery, Pre-School

About the Barn Nursery

Established in 1967 the Barn Nursery has played a key role in the local community for over 50 years. Holding charitable status, the Barn is not a profit-making organisation investing any profits made back into the children attending.  The Barn is led by a committee who act as trustees overseeing the running of the Nursery.  The Committee is made up of a combination of current and former parents, the Nursery Manager, and permanent members.  As a senior member of the Committee the Nursery Manager is also a Director of the Barn Education Association, playing a key role as the interface between the day to day running of the Nursery and the Committee.

The Barn’s Ethos

In alignment with the Nursery’s charity status the Nursery is primarily child centric. This focus has allowed us to flex the delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum according to individual year groups’ needs and interests. We pride ourselves on the high level of professionalism and dedicated focus on continuous professional development and improvement brought by the team and as such all our team are at least level three practitioners. We are also proud of our strong connection to the local community, offering an inclusive setting for local children and a steppingstone into the local state and private primary schools. 

Purpose of the Nursery Manager role

The purpose of the Nursery Manager role is to provide professional leadership and management of the Nursery, to effectively manage the day to day running of the Nursery and to deliver the highest standards of care and education to the children attending.

Key responsibilities include:

  • To plan and deliver effective daily management of the Nursery, in accordance with the EYFS, policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, all relevant legislation, as well as the Local Authority and Achieving for Children.
  • To ensure the provision is of the highest quality, providing a safe, stimulating and caring child-centred environment catering for the children’s educational and developmental needs.
  • To ensure that all agreed quality and safety standards are always maintained in the Nursery.
  • Responsibility for the overall management of all childcare and recruitment of other staff.
  • To adhere to our Parent Partnership and liaise closely with parents/carers to ensure high levels of involvement at all times. 
  • Prepare the Nursery’s business plan and associated action plans, covering both the short term and long term, working with the Committee to gain sign off for them.

The Role Reports to:  The Chair of the Committee

Key tasks include but are not limited to:

Childcare and Education:

  • Promote high standards of quality within the Nursery in respect of the environment, resources and experiences offered to children.
  • Ensure that all children attending the Nursery receive rich and stimulating experiences appropriate to their age and stage of development.
  • Ensure that practice and provision in the Nursery meets the requirements of the EYFS. 
  • Ensure that children are kept safe and that staff understand and, when necessary, follow Safeguarding Procedures.
  • Promote partnerships with parents/carers and other family members.
  • Remain current in changes to EYFS and the practical implications for the Nursery.
  • Support the development of good practice with regards to special needs and inclusion.
  • Support staff members in delivering the EYFS; ensure that provision in the Nursery meets the requirements of Achieving for Children Directory of Providers in relation to Nursery education grant funding for three- and four-year-olds.
  • Establish, develop and maintain highly professional working relationships with relevant Local Authority Departments, regulatory bodies and other agencies.
  • Create and maintain a culture of self-evaluation and reflective practise throughout the Nursery. 
  • Organise all the extra-curricular activities, including but not limited to an annual farm visit and magic show.

People Management:

  • Recruit, induct, support, train and appraise all staff to ensure delivery of high-quality childcare practice. 
  • Develop open and positive working relationships with staff.
  • Develop a well-qualified and experienced team able to meet and exceed all relevant standards.
  • Ensure that all staff develop and maintain friendly and professional relationships with parents and carers. 
  • Ensure staff are up to date with all safeguarding and child protection matters.
  • Organise monthly supervision meetings with each member of staff.
  • Identify training needs; develop training plans and evaluate training undertaken by staff. 
  • Plan, prepare and deliver staff training where possible.
  • Chair weekly planning and monthly team meetings. 
  • Plan, prepare and deliver Inset days (typically 2 per year). 
  • Address any performance issues in a sensitive and timely way as and when they arise and in line with the Nursery’s disciplinary and grievance policy and raising issues to the Committee where required.  
  • Review staff pay rates on an annual basis and present the outcome and any recommendations to the Committee. 

Health and Safety:

  • Manage the day-to-day operation in order to ensure the health and safety of the children, their parents and carers, the staff and any visitors to the Nursery.
  • Adhere to all health and safety policy and procedures.
  • Be fully aware of all emergency and security procedures. 
  • Be responsible for ensuring the Nursery remains compliant in respect of suitably trained staff with relevant first aid qualifications.

Administration:

  • Responsible for all administrative duties associated with the Nursery, such as maintaining children’s records, ordering equipment, maintaining inventories, and keeping personnel records.
  • Ensure that the Nursery is OFSTED compliant at all times. 
  • Prepare for and facilitate inspections by regulatory bodies (OFSTED) and implement any recommendations.
  • Be responsible for ensuring all complaints and concerns are actively resolved in a timely manner and that these are reported to the Committee. 
  • Manage information and administration for Tapestry on-line assessment tool.
  • Adhere to all the Nursery policies and procedures, review and update as necessary.
  • Ensure that the policies on diversity and equal opportunities are adhered to.
  • Work with Achieving for Children and attend meetings/forums when required.
  • Ensure the Nursery has adequate resources including both educational and food. 
  • Work with the landlord (the Barn Church) to ensure that the Nursery premises internally and externally are maintained to a safe standard for the continuation of the Nursery on the site and that resources provided by the landlord are provided. 
  • Manage ‘Lunchclub’ including advertising it to parents / carers, managing the staff rota and liaising with the Treasurer on invoicing and T&Cs associated with it. 
  • Manage any administration related to unusual events that impact the Nursery, such as COVID-19 pandemic.  
  • Oversee cleaning contract with external provider, ensuring cleaning is to an appropriate standard and the invoices are sent to the Treasurer for payment. 

Committee:

  • Work with the Committee, attending Committee meetings (typically twice a term) to report and discuss all matters concerning the Nursery.  
  • Undertake any other duties as reasonably requested by the Committee.

Finance:

  • Partner with the Treasurer to ensure that the annual budget is set in accordance with anticipated needs of the Nursery in the year ahead.
  • Actively input financial needs of the Nursery in terms of staff pay, training, resources to the Committee to input into the annual budget.
  • Ensure that staff hours are submitted to the Treasurer (who runs payroll) and paid correctly.
  • Ensure the Nursery operates within the agreed budget. 
  • Record staff attendance for wages to pass to Treasurer.
  • Complete fees information and petty cash records for Treasurer and liaise with Treasurer with all financial matters relevant to the Nursery.
  • Maintain accurate records for administration of Early Education Funding.

Parent Partnership:

  • Promote the Nursery to current parents and potential new parents.
  • Register new children and allocate places for each of the Autumn and Spring intake, making sure new parents receive all relevant information.
  • Ensure all parents are aware of the EYFS guidelines.
  • Communicate with parents on a regular basis and as required, either by email or newsletter.
  • Ensure parents are aware of policies at the Nursery and have access to them. 
  • Organise and oversee annual concerts (typically one at Christmas time and one at the end of the summer term).

Community Partnership:

  • Proactively represent the Nursery and advance its interests in the local community.
  • Update Nursery website as necessary including but not limited to term dates, fees, updated policies and engaging the website developer for more complicated updates.
  • Post and share appropriate updates about the Nursery on social media.
  • Build relations and line of communication with local primary schools to support the smooth transition of children from the Nursery into school.

Person Specification:

  • Current enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate required
  • Minimum CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator (ideally has or can show evidence that they are studying towards L4), evidence that this was completed in a face-to-face educational setting not online will be required
  • Excellent working knowledge of the EYFS curriculum required
  • Emergency Paediatric First Aid qualification, including evidence that this was completed in a face-to-face educational setting not online will be required
  • 2-3 years’ experience in previous managerial roles required
  • Prior experience of OFSTED standards and inspections required
  • Excellent interpersonal style, always demonstrating discretion and professionalism required
  • Excellent written and spoken English required
  • Computer literate required
  • Must hold current legal right to work in the UK required 
  • Minimum of two current satisfactory references from education settings, one to be the most recent employer

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