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Early Years Practitioner

Employer
Spring Nurseries by Action for Children
Location
Oxfordshire
Salary
Early Years Practitioner Unqualified
Closing date
8 Jul 2022

View more

Contract Type
Permanent
Hours
Full Time
Function
Assistant, Play Work, Apprentice
Sector
Charity, Nursery

Job Details

Role: Early Years Practitioner (Unqualified)

Salary: Up to £19,815   (Dependant on age, under 21 years - £14,246, 21-22 years -  £19,147 and 23+ £19,815)

Perks: We have some of the best employment terms and benefits package in the sector, including generous leave entitlement, paid time off to deal with family emergencies and paid maternity leave – as well as lots of benefits to save you and your family money and to save for your future. Check out more on our careers portal.

Contract/Hours: Permanent Full Time (working 40 hrs per week)

Location: Wallingford, Oxfordshire

Closing date: Midnight on 21st June 2022, We may stop taking applications earlier than advertised, due to the volume of applications we receive. So, don't delay submitting your application for consideration!

We're thrilled that you're considering a career with Spring. Spare us five minutes, and we'll tell you what you need to know…

About Spring

We are proud to be part of the Action for Children family, a national children's charity and our success in Spring makes a difference. With over 150 years of experience in caring for children and young people, we are an award-winning quality and ethical provider. Any profit we make is aligned to support vulnerable children and young people in need across the UK, through the work of Action for Children. We believe all children deserve the best early start in life. It's our mission to be the best provider of outstanding quality early education to children throughout the UK, that is accessible to all. We are looking to learn, have fun and make friends in our bright and engaging settings.

Spring RAF Benson is a large purpose built nursery and out of school club that supports the children and families of RAF Benson and the surrounding areas. We are looking for a confident and experienced Early Years Assistant  to join our nursery, It goes without saying that you love being around children and will have the ambition to make a direct and positive impact on their young lives.

Your Career Journey

We believe in our people and as member of our family you will be supported to be the best practitioner you can be. You will follow our internal development programmes and we will provide full training. We will help you to build your career with us by funding you to get qualified while you are working with us – helping you to quickly grow,  fulfil your potential and develop your career with us.

What you'll be doing

We are looking for an enthusiastic and proactive Early Years Assistant to join our team at Spring Big Cherry Tree to provide a safe, caring, fun and stimulating environment to the children who come through our doors. When you join us, you will be part of a passionate and creative team committed to giving the highest standards of care and education and helping children to find their feet – making friends, having fun and sparking their imaginations through play.


You'll do this by:

  •  Supervising the children and keep our active, flexible nursery environment safe and suited to their needs.
  •  Giving children a wide range of stimulating, safe and well-planned activities.
  •  Creating engaging, fun and informative learning opportunities, helping the children make excellent progress and meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
  •  Building solid relationships with parents / carers, families and professionals involved with the children.
  •   Meeting each of the children's individual needs, keeping accurate records and regularly communicating with parents / carers.
  •  Having a positive attitude, making everyday count for the children in our care.

What we need from you

Our successful candidate will have an enthusiastic and pro-active mindset with a positive attitude and have the ability to form strong and supportive relationships with parents, children and the team. Our Job Description outlines the requirements of the role, but the ‘must haves' are:

  •  A passion to learn and develop whether you are new to the sector or an experienced practitioner.
  •  Experience working with children in an early years or childcare environment.
  •  Understanding of children's emotional, physical, psychological and educational developmental needs from 0 to 5 years
  •   A positive attitude with an unwavering commitment to service excellence to allow us to maintain our high standards
  •   A willingness to complete further childcare training & qualifications

Whether this is a career change for you or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you.

We work together to reach our mission to give children a healthy start in life. Given this and how having a diverse workforce enriches the lives of the children and young people we work with we are committed to Diversity and Inclusion and welcome applications from everyone. We value and celebrate the diversity of those that work with us and as an inclusive workplace we want all our current and future staff to feel able to be themselves in the workplace.

We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice.

Good luck! We can't wait to hear from you.

Application process: There are 5 sections for you to complete, Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration – please refer to the JD and Person Specification when applying. We also want to know what unique qualities you can bring to help us reach our vision for children and families.

Talent pool: We're sure you've got what it takes to join our ambitious team. If you're unsuccessful this time around, we'd like to hold your details in case similar jobs come up that you might be better suited for. But, feel free to let us know if you'd rather we didn't do that.

If you need support with your application, please contact Shannon Neander at shannon.neander@actionforchildren.org.uk We'll be happy to give you any support you require.

If you want to get to know us a little better, check out our socials on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook or Youtube.

Company

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About Spring

Spring Nurseries by Action for Children offer unmatched opportunities in positive learning environments for children aged 0-5. We have a flexible and modern approach to childcare, to support families across the UK and provide each and every child with the best start in life. Our award-winning nurseries are all rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted (or equivalent inspectorate) and provide children with safe and exciting learning experiences. Our nurseries are bright, modern and engaging with professional and nurturing teams who inspire and enable children to discover their individuality and creativity, supporting to unleash their full potential.

We are proud to be part of the Action for Children family, a national children's charity and our success in Spring makes a difference. With over 150 years of experience in caring for children and young people, we are an award-winning quality and ethical provider. Any profit we make is aligned to support vulnerable children and young people in need across the UK, through the work of Action for Children.

Perks

We have some of the best employment terms and benefits package in the sector, including generous leave entitlement, paid time off to deal with family emergencies and paid maternity leave – as well as lots of benefits to save you and your family money and to save for your future.

  • Annual leave Up to 30 days a year, dependent on your role, as well as public or bank holidays that fall in your area of the UK.
  • Save on top brands Get discounts from household names like Morrisons, Tesco, Asda, ASOS, John Lewis, Curry’s PC World, Argos, Primark, Marks & Spencer, Alton Towers and many more.
  • My Cycle scheme A great way to save money when purchasing a new bike or cycling equipment.
  • Season ticket loan A loan to help you cover the cost and benefit from huge savings when commuting to work by public transport.
  • Concierge service A concierge service can help you with things like booking holidays and VIP tickets.
  • Family leave On top of statutory maternity pay, we pay 50% of your salary for 12 weeks. For the partner, we top up the first week of statutory pay to 100% of their salary. We also offer up to three days of paid dependency leave each year, should you need to take care of loved ones.
  • Volunteer day You can take one day, fully paid, to volunteer at any Action for Children service in your local community.
  • Staff discount on nursery places We offer up to 50% discount on a nursery place for your own child.
  • Pension To help you save for your future, we contribute up to 7% of your salary to your Action for Children pension scheme.
  • Salary Finance Salary Finance can help reduce financial stress through affordable loans, a save as you earn scheme, and tips to help you manage your money.

Your health and wellbeing

Your wellbeing is hugely important. We know that everyone can need a little bit of help from time to time, so we offer a range of support.

This includes:

  • Mindfulness tips, advice and videos.  
  • A fantastic team of colleagues who are trained Mental Health First Aiders.
  • An employee assistance programme, Health Assured, which offers free independent counselling, 24-hour support and advice.
  • Health Shield – for a small monthly payment, you can get discounts on healthcare treatments, including dentist and optician appointments, and prescription charges.
  • Flexible working, including the opportunity to request to work part-time or at home.

Everyone’s welcome

We’re committed to being an inclusive place to work where everyone is treated with respect. Joining one of our staff networks is a brilliant way to meet people and get involved in exciting projects.

  • Inclusion Champions: a network of ambassadors who put equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything we do.
  • Celebrate LGBT+: our award-winning staff group that’s open to everyone, whether or not you identify as LGBT+.
  • Christian Faith Staff Network: for people who identify with or have an interest in the Christian faith.
  • Breakthrough Network: a group that promotes race equality by influencing our strategy, policies and guidance.
  • Gender Empowerment Network: a community that spots and suggests solutions to gender inequality.
  • Menopause Support Group: supports staff who are going through or want to know more about the menopause.
  • Inspire: for people with disabilities, health conditions or caring responsibilities.
  • Homeworkers’ Network: a group that brings together people who work at home.
  • Green Action Network: raises awareness of and takes action on environmental issues.
  • Our trade union partners Trade unions do a great job supporting their members at work. We work with UNISON and Unite. They do lots of different things, like offering advice and giving you a voice.

Learning and development

The learning never stops at Action for Children. We want you to pick up lots of skills and have new experiences. To help you thrive, we use a 70/20/10 learning approach:

  • Experience: 70% of learning comes from on-the-job opportunities, which take you out of your comfort zone and build experience.
  • Exposure: 20% of learning comes from seeing other people in action and learning from their strengths, skills and knowledge.
  • Education: 10% of learning is through formal activities like training courses, webinars or reading.

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