Nursery Manager

Main job purpose:

To manage the nursery.

To lead the nursery under the direction of the nursery proprietor, ensuring staff adhere to all the policies and practices. To ensure all care for and develop children in the nursery ensuring high quality experiences and a high quality service to parents.

Responsibilities include:

• To ensure the smooth daily running and administration of the nursery, adhering to the Policies & Procedures of Ollie Owl Day Nursery Ltd and compliance with the Children Act, Health and Safety legislation and within the guidelines of Ofsted and the National Standards.

• To be the ‘lead’ professional, acting as a role model demonstrating excellent practice so that expectations are set for all staff, modelling policies and procedures and ethos.

• To ensure a safe, happy, stimulating environment is provided for all children.

• To ensure all children receive quality care and their development is suitably promoted with an outcome that all children make good progress in their learning and development.

• To undertake all daily management tasks to ensure the nursery runs smoothly. This includes such tasks as ensuring staff rotas are in place/ staff informed, ratios met at all times and children’s attendance is recorded. Rotas to be completed and handed to the owner.

• To record all staff and children’s attendance on Famly.

• To ensure the smooth running of the daily practices, ensuring practices and policies are followed; including ensuring paperwork is completed to a good standard.
• To hold a key and be responsible for opening and locking up of the nursery in accordance with opening hours, enlisting help from other members of the management team as required. Ensure all security systems are turned on and off as necessary.

• To take calls from staff and organise cover of staff as necessary. To hold return to work interviews and closely monitor staff attendance. Inform the owner of any problems.

• To ensure good parental relationships, by meeting and greeting at least three times a week at the beginning or end of the day. Ensure good daily handovers and liaise between all key workers and parents. Ensure ‘scrap’ books are used well by practitioners. To answer promptly all queries from parents.

• To take enquiries and conduct show rounds for new parents in the owner’s absence.
• Contribute to the registration process with all new parents/ families, including introducing them to the key worker to complete the ‘me, my family and my learning’ profile. Create allergy posters, peg labels etc for new starters, ensuring all relevant people are informed of key information.

• To produce and distribute the monthly newsletters and give materials to the owner for updates for the website.

• To lead a team of staff, including contributing to staff induction and professional development training so that they are suitably well trained to perform their duties.   To supervise the chef and cleaner, ensuring food hygiene and cleanliness standards are maintained and promoted.

• To monitor practice and staff performance at least monthly to ensure good interactions, practice, planning and assessment of all children in each room, ensuring educational programmes are well planned and appropriate to children’s needs and interests.

• To plan Continuous Professional Development informed from monitoring, feedback and evaluation. It must meet children’s needs, the nursery needs and individual staff development needs.

• To lead and implement the supervision and appraisal system for all staff. Ensure all underperformance is tackled and the owner is informed on a weekly basis.

• To deal with all staff queries and issues, liaising closely with the proprietor in the use of the complaints policy or any of the human resources policies.

• To act as and organise others to be Named Coordinators relevant to their skills or training, covering all key areas. Ensure they are sufficiently well trained to carry out the roles and responsibilities given.

• To add to stock request lists.

• To work to ensure compliance with the Children Act and within the guidelines of Ofsted and the National Standards.

• To implement the SEN code of practice, social services policies and practices and to work with a range of external agencies.  To act as named Inclusion Offer for the setting in line with Ollie Owl Inclusion, Equality and Diversity policy.

• To ensure all Learning and Development practices are excellent, that children’s needs are met and they are progressing to their full potential.

• To ensure all Safeguarding & Welfare practices and requirements are met and implemented by all staff.  To act as one of two Designated Safeguarding Officers for the setting.

• To promote equal opportunities for all children and staff with regard to their religious persuasion, racial origins, gender, disabilities, cultural or linguistic background; in particular, challenging situations where racism or discrimination are displayed. Any incidents should be reported to the Proprietor.

• Ensure there is a culture of ‘safety’ by rigorous implementation of Safeguarding, Recruitment and Health & Safety practices. Ensure all incidents and accidents recorded, and ensure that only designated staff administer medication and action taken where necessary.

• To ensure good relationships with external agencies to ensure children’s needs are met; necessary information is shared and their input valued and used to improve the nursery.

• To ensure confidentiality is maintained in the nursery.

• To assist the proprietor in staff recruitment process e.g. observing candidates with activities/ children.

• To lead staff supervision meetings, staff training sessions and room leader meetings.

• To update monthly and implement all actions on the Business/ Improvement Action Plan. To evaluate impact to the children.

• Review all policies and practices regularly.

• To organise regular parents' evenings and events, and children's outings.

• To attend and report on areas of responsibility in weekly management meetings.

Areas to report on include: Key practice and performance issues including priorities and actions completed and planned; monitoring of practice findings and Business Action Plan Updates/ staff meeting agendas; any key issues with children or families.

• To take over duties from time to time and as requested by the proprietor, such as show rounds and registration, payroll and invoicing.