Early Years Practitioner Level 3

Spring Nurseries by Action for Children; Exeter; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Time off to recharge

Staff discounts

Blue light card

Salary finance

Childcare discount

Dependency leave

Parental leave

Professional development

Pension with life cover

Job summary

Spring Nurseries by Action for Children is hiring an Early Years Practitioner (SENCO) in Exeter. In this supernumerary role, you’ll support children with SEND, manage SEND records and collaborate with families and professionals to ensure the right support and development opportunities.

You’ll work closely with the nursery team, providing guidance and practical help, while maintaining high-quality inclusive practices and contributing to staff development and ongoing learning.

Qualifications

• A Level 3 early years and childcare qualification (NNEB, CACHE, NVQ Level 3 or equivalent).
• Strong understanding of the EYFS and how children learn and develop through play.
• Commitment to continuous learning and growth aligned with Spring career pathway.
• Understanding of children's development needs (0 to 5 years).

Responsibilities

• Support children with SEND, ensuring individual needs are understood and met.
• Maintain accurate SEND paperwork, observations, records and individual support plans.
• Work closely with practitioners, providing guidance around inclusive practice.
• Build positive relationships with children, families and external professionals.
• Work alongside children and staff in the room when required, supporting high-quality care, learning and play.

Skills

EYFS knowledge

Childcare experience

Teamwork

Education

Level 3 Early Years & Childcare qualification (NNEB/CACHE/NVQ Level 3 or equivalent)

Job description

Early Years Practitioner (Level 3 SENCO)

Salary: up to £27,299

Location: Exeter

Contract/Hours: Permanent/Full Time – 40 hours per week

Benefits

• Time off to recharge– 25 days per annum plus bank holidays
• Treat yourself:Staff discounts portal and blue light card with 15,000 + retailers.
• Salary Finance – access tofinancial advice and the ability to manage savings or loans directly from your salary.
• Childcare Discount –A whopping 60% off childcare within our nurseries and out of school clubs
• Up to 3 Days Dependency Leave –to care for dependents in an emergency.
• Paid maternity, adoption, and paternityleave.
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities.
• Secure your future:Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover.

A bit abouttherole

As Early Years Level 3 and SENCO, you'll play an important role in creating a warm, inclusive and nurturing environment where every child can learn, develop and thrive. Working closely with children, families and the wider nursery team, you'll support children's individual needs and help ensure that they receive the right care, encouragement and opportunities to reach their full potential.

This is a supernumerary role, providing dedicated time to focus on your SENCO responsibilities. However, there is an expectation that you will work alongside the children and staff in the room when required, offering practical support, sharing expertise and helping to maintain high-quality inclusive recruitment.

You'll support the team with SEND-related paperwork, observations, records and individual support plans, while working alongside practitioners to share your knowledge, guidance and best practice. You'll help staff feel confident supporting children with additional needs and work closely with families and other professionals to ensure children receive the right support.

What you do could make a difference

• Support children with SEND, ensuring that individual needs are understood and met.
• Maintain accurate send paperwork, observations, records and individual support plans.
• Work closely with practitioners, providing guidance, advising and support around inclusive practice.
• Build positive relationships with children, families and external professionals.
• Work alongside children and staff in the room when required, supporting high-quality care, learning and play.

Let’stalk about you.

In the role of Early Years Practitioner (SENCO), we're ideally looking for someone who has:

• A Level 3 early years and childcare qualification (NNEB, CACHE, NVQ Level 3 or equivalent)
• A strong understanding of the EYFS and how children learn and develop through play.
• A passion for continuous learning and growth, Aligned with our core values and the Spring career pathway
• An understanding of children's development needs (0 to 5 years)
• A positive attitude and a commitment to excellence

About the Service

Spring Cedars is a welcoming and supportive setting, where you’ll work alongside a dedicated team of professionals. Following a recent refurbishment, the nursery has a fresh, modern feel and a newly developed outdoor area, providing an inspiring environment for both children and staff to learn, develop and thrive.

About Spring

Spring offers award-winning childcare services, as part of the national charity Action for Children. 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 focused on enabling young people to learn, have fun and make friends in our bright, engaging settings. That starts with creating a happy environment for our team. Join us and you can look forward to:

• A kind, caring culture with an emphasis on wellbeing, both physical and mental.
• Flexible working – wherever possible we offer flexibility on hours and/or hybrid working.
• Lots of opportunities for training, learning, development, including gaining qualifications.
• Excellent benefits that compare favourably to other employers in our sector.

Our Commitment to Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism

At Spring Nurseries, we are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels respected, valued, and able to thrive. We know that racism and discrimination create barriers, and we are taking active steps to challenge these inequalities in our organisation and in the communities we serve.

We strongly welcome applications from people who are Black, Asian, or from other racialised and ethnically marginalised communities, as well as disabled people, who are currently under‑represented in our workforce. We are committed to removing barriers in our recruitment processes and ensuring fair access to opportunities.

We also encourage applications from men, who are under‑represented in our Children’s Services roles. We recognise that people hold multiple identities, and we value the richness this brings to our team.

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.

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