Nursery Practitioner/Teacher

Love Childcare Recruitment; Greater London; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 38,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual training budget

26 days annual leave

Job summary

Love Childcare Recruitment is assisting a brand new boutique nursery opening in Barnes, SW London, to recruit a Nursery Teacher for January 2027. The role is full-time, with shift patterns 7:30am-4:30pm or 9:00am-6:00pm, on-site in Barnes.

You will lead high-quality teaching and learning for children aged nine months to five years, develop an attachment-informed environment and shape the curriculum from day one.

Qualifications

• Min. Level 3 qualification in Early Years.
• Previous experience in a nursery or early years setting is essential.
• A highly fluent English speaker with strong communication skills.
• Solid safeguarding and EYFS knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Lead high-quality teaching through play and meaningful interactions.
• Act as a key person, building secure relationships with children and families.
• Help implement and shape the nursery curriculum with consistency and creativity.
• Carry out high-quality observations and assessments as the setting opens.

Skills

Teaching

Communication

Relationship-building

EYFS understanding

Safeguarding

Education

Level 3 Early Years qualification

Job description

Nursery Teacher in Barnes - Brand New Boutique Nursery

£35,000-£38,000 salary (dependent on experience and qualifications)

Location: Barnes, Richmond upon Thames, SW London (SW13)

Working pattern: Full-time, Monday to Friday, with shift patterns of 7:30am-4:30pm or 9am-6pm. On-site training and induction will start in December ahead of the January 2027 opening.

Our client is a brand new, boutique nursery opening in Barnes in January 2027, founded by a former nursery teacher turned child therapist with a masters in play therapy. They're looking for a warm and enthusiastic Nursery Teacher to help shape a calm, attachment-informed setting from the very start, leading high-quality teaching and learning for children nine months to five years.

This is a genuinely rare opportunity to join a nursery before it even opens its doors, with the chance to help build its culture, its curriculum and its community from day one. The setting itself is filled with natural light and has been designed with real thought, and the philosophy behind it, that children thrive through strong relationships and thoughtful, child-led environments, runs through everything from the physical space to the way the team works together.

On offer is a salary of £35-38k depending on experience, paid training ahead of opening to properly embed the nursery's approach, and a culture where wellbeing and reflective practice are built into everyday working life rather than treated as an afterthought.

Key responsibilities:

• Teaching and learning: Lead high-quality teaching through play and meaningful interactions, planning experiences that reflect each child's interests and developmental needs.
• Relationships and wellbeing: Act as a key person, building secure, trusting relationships with children and their families, and supporting emotional wellbeing through responsive, relationship-centred practice.
• Curriculum: Help implement and shape the nursery's curriculum with consistency and creativity, carrying out high-quality observations and assessments as the setting gets off the ground.
• Family partnerships: Build genuine partnerships with parents and carers, sharing children's learning and development through clear, warm communication.

About you:

• Qualification: Min. Level 3 qualified in Early Years.
• Experience: Previous experience in a nursery or early years setting is essential, and you should be confident enough to role-model good practice from day one in a new environment.
• Language and communication: A highly fluent English speaker, with strong communication skills that support children's language development and give parents real confidence.
• Knowledge: Solid understanding of safeguarding and the EYFS framework.
• Approach: Warm, patient, resilient and proactive, comfortable with the teething issues that come with helping a brand new setting find its feet, and genuinely passionate about early years.

What's in it for you:

• Salary of £35-38k, depending on qualifications and experience.
• A rare chance to help shape a new nursery's culture and curriculum from the ground up.
• Wellbeing support and supervision embedded into the staff culture.
• Ongoing training and professional development opportunities, backed by a dedicated annual training budget.
• 26 days annual leave (including public holidays), rising by a day for each year served up to five years, plus nursery closure between Christmas and New Year.