Job Description

The Curriculum & Well-being Manager co-leads with the Nursery Operations Manager and with support from the Head of Childcare and Directors, to provide outstanding education and wellbeing within Statutory and Inspection frameworks. They are focused on achieving the service Vision and setting's Aspirations.

As an EYTS/QTS they continually act as a role model to elevate teaching practice across the setting. They lead and inspire a professional team of practitioners to achieve the highest standards of practice which promotes the service ethos; curiosity, hugge, forest school lead and montessori inspired learning practices.

Specifically, they support and encourage innovative thinking and working practices relating to the education of children and staff development and ensure they are skilfully integrated into daily practice in the setting. Oversees and delivers seamless transition for 0-5 year olds into school.

Role Purpose

• To create a culture of excellence so that Jesters can build futures for the next generation.
• To provide inspirational leadership and be a role model for professionalism and excellence for all staff. To develop a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce of Early Years Professionals.
• To work collaboratively with the Independent school sector in the local community and local families to ensure Jesters is seen as the nursery provider of choice to feed local private sector schools.
• To ensure organisational Key Performance Indicators are achieved and delivered within deadlines.

Key Responsibilities

1. Childcare and Education Development

• Ensure that all children attending the Nursery receive rich and stimulating experiences appropriate to their age and stage of development.
• Implement the planning and organisation of a high-quality educational provision ensuring it is carried out to meet the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum across the service.
• Support and mentor practitioners across the service in the skills and behaviours that safeguard and promote excellent outcomes for children.
• Ensure that the Nursery provides targeted, diverse, and high-quality educational resources suitable for children's, interests, and abilities to promote inclusion, ensuring continuous provision is accessible across the curriculum. Work with the setting-based Operations Manager within budgets to provide suitable educational resources that deliver against our ethos.
• Ensure that practitioners can identify and acknowledge children's different and unique developmental needs and support the development of confidence and independence in each child. Include challenge/ambition in deciding next steps for each child to reach their full potential.
• Encourage the view of children as independent thinkers who are rich in potential and who can act for themselves. Provide children with opportunities to create their own learning and reflect upon their experiences with others.
• Ensure all children can access a healthy balance of child and adult initiated activities, remove barriers to participation and enable them to take measured and calculated risks by setting their own safety limits.
• Promote positive behaviour and independence through effective strategies that promote self-regulation and develop children's social, emotional skills and high esteem. Understand how to instill and integrate British Values across the settings.
• Actively support the development of children's speech, language, active listening, and communication skills. Pay equal attention to the needs of children with an additional language and ensure a rich learning environment that supports and scaffolds progress.
• Support practitioners in acknowledging the various influences and transitions experienced by a child both inside and outside the Nursery School.
• Provide a rich and effective learning environment for all children by a variety of informed observations and other strategies to record children's development and progress systematically. Use this information to improve practice and provision for each child, enabling them to reach their full potential.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum provided across the service and identify areas for development based on the results of cohort tracking and other required teachable moments.
• Work with practitioners to ensure that individual records of all children's educational developmental progress based on day-to-day observations is concise and that more comprehensive observations and assessments are up to date.
• Ensure that all children are kept safe and that practitioners understand and follow Safeguarding Procedures to the highest standards in line with organisational and statutory policies and guidelines.

2. Staff Management and Development

• Work collaboratively with the Operations Manager to support the delivery of their role.
• Contribute to the recruitment and overall management of all childcare and other practitioners to include chairing meetings as appropriate and management of performance from induction and probation and throughout individual's careers.
• Work closely with the Operational Manager to deliver termly supervisions and appraisals to develop a well-qualified, experienced, and knowledgeable team able to meet and exceed all relevant internal and external standards.
• Identify training needs regularly, produce training plans in conjunction with senior management. Develop practitioners through coaching and mentoring programmes. Monitor and evaluate all development outcomes to ensure a team equipped to be highly competent.
• Manage and implement the competency based annual review process, liaising with the setting-based Operations Manager and Early Years Manager.
• Help develop an apprentice/trainee programme. Recruitment of candidates, ongoing mentorship through to successful professional status.
• Implement a comprehensive key person ethos in line with our service policy and enhance our expertise across the service with our team.
• Work with the Early Years Manager and Directors on the outcomes of staff well-being surveys and staff development programmes
• Ensure all practitioners have full inductions in co-partnership with the Curriculum & Wellbeing Manager.
• Play an active role in leading and managing the team with the Operations Manager, motivating them with a shared sense of direction, energy, and pride.

3. Operational Control

• Oversee the production of the Nursery School SEF so that operational direction across the service is maintained.
• Provide strategic and operational oversight of national standards as set out in the inspection handbook and be the go-to person on all matters educational.
• Work with the Nursery School based Operations Manager to ensure the required standards, ratios and conditions of registration are always maintained.
• Oversee the quality of all areas of the inspection framework. Facilitate internal quality inspections with the Childcare Director. Facilitate external inspections by Ofsted. Ensure the co-ordination and implementation of any recommendations is rolled out across the service.
• Produce timely and termly reports on such areas as cohort tracking, EYPP, EAL, SEND for all children on roll along with room improvement plans.
• Ensure that the setting procedures on Safeguarding are adhered to, ensuring the Early Years Manager is made aware of any concerns.

4. Parental Involvement: Managing Customer Service, Information and Marketing

• Build strong parental relationships through day-to-day liaison with parents, resolving any issues or complaints regarding children's learning, progress, and welfare.
• Ensure maximum parental engagement and involvement at all levels in the learning and progress of all Nursery School children.
• Ensure that all practitioners develop and maintain friendly and knowledgeable professional relationships with parents. Oversee the quality of handovers and regular information shared between practitioners and parents. Observe and refine parental interactions between practitioners. Establish a parental forum with the support of the Early Years Manager.
• Work with the Early Years Manager to co-design, implement and review parental surveys - relating to aspects of children's education and wellbeing outcomes. Work with the Sales and Marketing Team to deliver surveys, collate results and feedback to parents. Ensure identified actions are implemented.
• Work collaboratively with the Sales and Marketing team to deliver projects, meet sales targets, and ensure appropriate written communications with parents and staff.

5. Budgetary Control, Finance and Administration

• Contribute to business plans as required and ensure KPIs are met.
• Understand the occupancy and revenue targets set by the Director and support the Operations Manager to manage all day-to-day costs, to ensure the continued sustainability of the settings. Oversee and manage the resources required in the setting to reflect continuous provision outcomes.
• Ensure the collection and maintenance of accurate statistical and personal records relating to children and families at the setting, providing regular reports as required. Focus to be given to initial child baselining, cohort tracking, integrated 2-year-old assessments and transition passports. Ensure these are produced to a high standard.
• Ensure regular maintenance of information to the services shared drive and oversee the safe and confidential storage of data relating to Child Protection and SEND children. Have an up to date and operational knowledge of how to exercise the above to guarantee compliance with GDPR.
• Work with Nursery School Operations Manager to ensure H&S and information governance compliance.

Liaison with outside agencies and other community partners

• Develop appropriate links and support senior management in developing a close working relationship with Essex County Council's Early Years Team to help ensure that all settings receive available information and support.
• Attend 'learning partnerships' with other industry leading nurseries, childcare organisations and feeder schools as required. Contribute and implement improvements in line with best practice.
• Maintain a professional and positive relationship at the appropriate level with OFSTED. Work with Early Years Manager and Directors on all queries, surveys and/or complaints. Work with all other regulatory bodies.
• Develop an excellent collaborative relationship with schools, preschools, health, and further/higher educational partners in the local community engaging in the pursuit of the highest outcomes for children and staff.
• Maintain strong positive relationships with the community neighbours quickly resolving any difficulties and importantly forging new and creative partnership working.

An enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is required for this role. Applicants must be prepared to disclose any convictions they may have and any orders which have been made against them.

Jesters is committed to ensuring that it meets its responsibilities in respect of Safeguarding through the provision of safe recruitment procedures, as outlined in our Staffing policy, continued support and training of all staff.

Nothing within the above advert is in any way designed or intended to discriminate on the grounds of age, gender, race, colour, religion, disability or sexual orientation. Jesters Childcare is an equal opportunities employer and is proud in the knowledge that all employments are made on merit and suitability. We accept applications from all sections of the community.