Nursery Manager

Bright Horizons UK; Milton Keynes; On-site; GBP 39,000 - 46,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a passionate Nursery Manager to lead their Wavendon nursery. This role offers the opportunity to inspire a dedicated team while ensuring high-quality education and care for children. You will oversee nursery operations, manage safeguarding protocols, and foster a positive environment for both staff and children. With a commitment to professional development and a supportive workplace culture, this position is perfect for those looking to make a meaningful impact in early childhood education. Join a company recognized as a Great Place to Work and help shape the future of the next generation.

Benefits

100% childcare discount for first child

Enhanced parental leave

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Pension

Financial and wellbeing benefits

Professional development programme access

Qualifications

• Proven experience in an Early Years leadership role.
• Strong understanding of safeguarding and child protection.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team to deliver outstanding care and education.
• Manage day-to-day operations and safeguarding policies.

Skills

Early Years qualification

Leadership experience

Safeguarding knowledge

Team development

Regulatory compliance

Education

Level 3 Early Years qualification

Job description

Nursery – Bright Horizons Wavendon Day Nursery and Preschool

Salary – Starting from £39,416 per annum (dependent on qualification/s and experience)

Location – Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Are you looking to work for an organisation whose culture is driven by our HEART principles – Honesty, Excellence, Accountability, Respect, and Teamwork? Where you can be yourself, feel supported, and help to make a difference to the next generation? Somewhere you can say: “I did that.”

We’re looking for a Nursery Manager to join our Wavendon nursery, conveniently located close to Woburn Sands train station, situated close to Wavendon Primary, Swallowfields, and Brooklands schools.

Our 65 place setting is Ofsted rated 'Good' and offers a large garden, which gives access to hours of fun with a climbing frame, sandpit and bike track!

Our Benefits

• Childcare discount of 100% for first child*
• Enhanced parental leave
• 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays and paid Christmas closure. Ability to also purchase additional leave*
• Pension
• Financial and wellbeing benefits including 24/7 virtual GP appointments, early access to wages, and more
• Professional development programme access for every stage of your career, including access to a careers coach

*Subject to T&Cs

The Role

As a Nursery Manager, you will lead a team to deliver outstanding care and education to all the children in your setting, and through inspirational leadership drive employee engagement, retention and performance. You will act as Designated Safeguarding Lead, holding overall responsibility for the day to day running of the nursery, and management of safeguarding policies. You will work in partnership with support office teams to recruit, nurture, and continuously develop high performing colleagues, as well as identify and implement commercial plans and strategies to deliver FTE growth. You will optimise nursery performance, revenue generation, and cost efficiency in line with staff ratio requirements.

What we’re looking for

• Full and relevant Level 3 or above Early Years qualification
• Experience within an Early Years leadership role (ideally as a Nursery Manager, Deputy Manager, Assistant Manager or similar)
• Experience of participating with a regulatory inspection, leading to a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ outcome
• Experience of developing high performance teams, with effective regulatory compliance, quality improvement, delivery of high-quality pedagogy, innovation and service excellence
• Confident decision maker, with ability to support change and understanding of complex relationship between commercial and service excellence within a regulated setting
• Strong knowledge and understanding of Safeguarding, Child Protection, and the wider legislative requirements for working with children
• Ability to develop trust and strong working partnerships with both colleagues and parents/ carers

We are an inclusive employer and welcome people from all ages and backgrounds to apply. We will consider reasonable adjustments required by applicants. Please note, due to our sector all roles are subject to an Enhanced DBS.

If you want to make a difference, with a company who has been voted Great Place to Work every year since 2006, apply today!

We look forward to receiving your application!

If you experience any problems, please [e-mail] we will be happy to help.