Nursery Practitioner

Little Owl Childcare; Holywell; On-site; GBP 18,000 - 24,000; Full time

Job summary

Little Owl Childcare is seeking a Nursery Practitioner to deliver high-quality EYFS support within a Woodland nursery. You will work with the team to meet children's needs, update development records, and engage with families to ensure holistic care.

You are expected to attend CPD opportunities, adhere to safeguarding, and contribute to a positive environment that respects culture and wellbeing. This role emphasises partnership with parents and ongoing learning.

Qualifications

• Minimum of a relevant Level 3 qualification.
• Desirable Forest School qualification; able to interact with children with kindness and understanding.
• Experience working in an early years setting and partnership with parents is valued.

Responsibilities

• Deliver EYFS to meet children's needs with the team.
• Record and share children's development with parents and carers.
• Maintain safe, clean environments and adhere to policies.

Skills

Outdoor play

Communication

Teamwork

Education

Level 3 childcare

Forest School (desirable)

Job description

Mission statement – Creating happiness, nurturing minds -

Purpose of Post:

1.

2. To give support to other staff within the setting.

3.

4. To build and maintain strong partnership working with parents to enable children’s needs to be met.

Responsible to:

Nursery Manager/Deputy

Main Duties:

Practise

• To effectively deliver the EYFS ensuring that the individual needs and interest of children in the setting are met (in conjunction with other team members). This will include updating your knowledge to meet the development levels of cohorts and individual children. Management reserve the right to question understanding and in return, provide opportunities for you to access training.
• progressto talk confidently about their journey and your next steps to support the progression of their learning.
• To keep records of your key children’s development and learning journeys and share with parents, carers, and other key adults in the child’s life.
• It is expected that practitioners will have a good knowledge of the milestones for their children, understand how to develop their learning and how any research they have done has impacted practise.
• which may be in your own time.
• To be flexible within working practices of the setting, undertaking other responsible duties where needed, such as domestic tasks, preparation of snack meals, cleansing of equipment, washing etc.
• To understand and implement the OFSTED definition of teaching.(Appendix 1)

Environment and resources

• To ensure the provision of a high-quality environment to meet the needs of individual children having an awareness of any disabilities, family cultures and medical histories.
• To speak with confidence about how your environment supports the enhancement of British Values, celebrates Cultural Capital, and understanding of the world.
• To advise manager/deputy of any concerns, e.g., over children, parents, the safety of the environment, preserving confidentiality, as necessary.
• To arrive 15 minutes prior to your shift commencing to ensure your environment is set up ready for the arrival of your children each day.
• To ensure your indoor and outdoor environment is cleaned and all resources are put away and organised at the end of your session before you leave your working space.

Policy and practise

• To read and understand working policy and practise
• To support review of policy, as necessary.
• To be knowledgeable about risk assessments, where they are stored and take responsibility to write them, as necessary.
• To work alongside the manager and staff team to ensure that the setting’s philosophy is fulfilled.
• See appendix 2 for the list of mandatory documents staff need to be knowledgeable about

Training and professional development

• All practitioners have a responsibility to keep CPD up to date.
• Where legislation changes it is expected Practitioners will update their own knowledge.
• CPD overviews to be completed and handed to managers prior to supervision or appraisals.
• To speak confidently about how new knowledge has enhanced practise and outcomes for children in your care.
• To play an active role in peer- peer training, sharing knowledge, disseminating from training. This may be through an online platform, or face to face.
• A Minimum of 4 quality training opportunities are expected to be taken each year. This will be discussed at supervisions and appraisal. Mandatory training such as safeguarding will be provided by the company.

Personal Conduct

• To treat all staff members with respect and in the way you wish to be treated yourself.
• To share any concerns or worries, anxieties or complaints directly with the manager or Director to be resolved.
• Work in a supportive manner with all team members across the business.
• public spaces, thisincludes social media platforms.
• To remain professional and positive about the company, its employees, and families.

Required skills and experience You must have to work in our Woodland nursery :

• An understanding of the benefits of outdoor play and education for early years children
• At least a basic knowledge of the plants and animals of a woodland environment and an interest in building on that knowledge. Ideally you will have a Level 3 childcare and it would be desirable to have a Level 3 Forest School qualification. However, if you have no forest school qualifications we will consider employing you if you have some experience and can you demonstrate to us that you can interact in the right way with the children (kind, caring, understanding, sensitive, enriching), embody our ethos, learn and develop into an exemplary practitioner, and be a good fit with our team.

Our obligation to you

• To endeavour to provide a supportive learning environment where staff and children thrive. A blame culture will not be tolerated.
• To support staff professional development through sign posting to quality training opportunities, regular CPD delivered in house.
• To communicate with staff througha chosen online communication method – currently What’s app.
• To support staffs well being though regular termly 1-1 sessions, operation of an ‘open door’ policy, links to my health App
• To ensure the environment is kept safe, hazards are removed promptly, and the setting is well maintained.
• To ensure staff have adequate equipment to support their role and support staff in sourcing equipment as required.
• To support staff progression which may include offering additional opportunities within the setting such as SENDco, health and safety officer, curriculum management, parent partnership.

Appendix 1

Definition of Teaching*

Teaching should not be taken to imply a ‘top down’ or formal way of working. It is a broad term which covers the many different ways in which adults help young children learn. It includes their interactions with children during planned and child-initiated play and activities:

Communication and modelling language,

Showing,

Explaining,

Demonstrating,

Exploring ideas,

Encouraging,

Questioning,

Recalling,

Providing a narrative for what they are doing,

Facilitating,

Setting challenges

It takes account of:

The equipment adults provide,

The physical environment,

The structure and routines of the day that establish expectations, Integral to teaching is how practitioners:

Assess what children know, understand and can do,

Take account of their interests and dispositions to learn (characteristics of effective learning),

Use this information to plan children’s next steps learning,

Monitor their progress

*This information is derived from the Ofsted Early Years Inspection Handbook

Personnel Specification – Nursery Practitioner

Key:

A = Application

I = Interview

Attributes

Criteria

How Identified

Rank

Education and Training

1. Minimum of a relevant and recognised Level 3 qualification

A

Essential

Education and Training

2. Evidence of ongoing personal development training

A & I

Essential

Education and Training

3. Desire to continue with professional development

A & I

Essential

Education and Training

4. To have a current live DBS

A & I

Desirable

Education and Training

5. In date Paediatric First Aid certificate/Outdoor first aid

A

Desirable

Education and Training

6. Food Hygiene Level 2

A

Desirable

Relevant Experience

7. Experience in working with children

A & I

Essential

Relevant Experience

8. Experience of working in an early years setting

A & I

Desirable

Relevant Experience

9. Experience of implementation of EYFS

A & I

Desirable

Relevant Experience

10. Experience of working in partnership with parents

A & I

Essential

General and Special Knowledge

11. Knowledge of legislation relevant to Early Years such as EYFS, SEN, safeguarding, Childcare Act 2006 incl Safeguarding Level 1

A & I

Desirable

General and Special Knowledge

12. Knowledge of Child Development and children’s needs

A & I

Essential

General and Special Knowledge

13. Ability to work with parents/carers/families to encourage partnership working

A & I

Essential

Skills and Abilities

14. Ability to communicate well with adults and children

A & I

Essential

Skills and Abilities

15. Ability to work as part of a team

A

Essential

Skills and Abilities

16. Ability to write legibly and use correct grammar/spelling

A

Essential

Skills and Abilities

17. Good presentation skills

A

Essential

Skills and Abilities

18. Possess a level of general computer literacy with a range of IT skills.

A & I

Desirable

Skills and Abilities

19. Good organisational skills

A & I

Essential

Skills and Abilities

20. Ability to demonstrate creative abilities

A & I

Essential

Any Additional Factors

21. Understanding of Equal Opportunities

A & I

Essential

Any Additional Factors

22. Awareness of Health & Safety and practical Hygiene issues

A & I

Essential

Any Additional Factors

23. Ability, flexibility, and willingness to take on other responsibilities or duties as deemed necessary

A & I

Essential