Early Years Practitioner Level 3

Early Years Practitioner (Level 3) 

Location: Exeter 

Salary: up to £26,499 per annum (with pay progression opportunities) 

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

Part time contracts would be considered 

Closing date: Midnight on the 9th of December 2025

Benefits:   

• Time off to recharge - 33 days leave per year  
• 24/7 Confidential Helpline speak to trained counsellors any time, 365 days a year, for emotional, wellbeing or mental health support. 
• Enhanced Well-being: 8 sessions In-Person, Phone, or Online Counselling or CBT 
• Treat yourself: Staff discounts portal and blue light card with 15,000 + retailers
• Salary Finance – access to financial 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 paternity leave  
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities  
• Secure your future: Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover 

Why Spring Nurseries 

Imagine a place where laughter echoes, imaginations run wild, and every day is a new adventure.  That's Spring Nursery We're not just a nursery; we are a family dedicated to creating a joyful and nurturing environment where children thrive. As part of Action for Children, we're on a mission to provide outstanding early education that's accessible to all. 

At Spring, we are committed to supporting your career growth Check out our Spring Career Progression Map attached to this advert, which highlights the options for progression into a specialist role.

A Day in the Life of an Early Years Practitioner (qualified) 

Each day at Spring Cedars starts with a warm welcome, familiar faces, and children eager to share their stories.  You'll help create a creative, engaging environment where children feel safe, confident, and ready to explore.  Throughout the day, you'll support their learning through meaningful interactions, joining them in their play, extending their ideas, and encouraging those all-important early skills to grow.

You'll observe children as they learn, captured their progress and plan their next steps with care.  Whether you're helping a child master a new skill, guiding a small group activity, or supporting a moment of discovery outside in our fantastic garden, your presence and reassurance will make a real difference.

Working closely with your team, you'll share ideas, and contribute to a space where children are nurtured, listened to, and celebrated. Every day brings new moments, new achievements, and plenty of opportunities to help little learners flourish.

A bit about the Nursery

Spring Cedars Is a vibrant home from home setting where imaginations run free, little voices fill the air, muddy boots are worn with pride. Our newly renovated nursery is reopening in January 2026 bringing fresh, bright, inspiring spaces along with our much-loved outdoor garden, where children climb, dig, imagine and discover to their hearts content.

Your mission (should you choose to accept it)   

• Supervise and protect our children in the safe and stimulating environment  
• Lead exciting preschool activities that spark creativity and curiosity
• Prepare children for the next big adventure: School 
• Creating engaging learning experiences that help children shine 
• Build strong relationships with parents/carers and families
• Meet each child's unique needs with love and attention
• Bring a positive attitude and make every day magical. 

What we need from you    

In the role of Early Years Practitioner (Level 3), we're ideally looking for someone who has:  

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

Ready to make a difference in the lives of children? Whether you're looking for a career change or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you

Contact: If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Team at  quoting reference

We'll be happy to give you any support you require.  

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion 
 

At Spring Oscars we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under-represented within the organisation. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups. 

Male staff are often under-represented within this sector and we would like to encourage more male applicants for our roles. 

We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice. 

Don't meet every single requirement? 
 

If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with the job description, we'd love you to apply anyway. You might just be the perfect person for this role, or another role within the Action for Children family. 

Application Process

Please note we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.

There are 5 sections for you to complete - Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration – please refer to the JD and Person Specification when applying. 

We also want to know what unique qualities you can bring to help us reach our vision for children and families.  

Talent Pool: We're sure you've got what it takes to join our ambitious team. If you're unsuccessful this time around, we'd like to hold your details in case similar jobs come up that you might be better suited for. But feel free to let us know if you'd rather we didn't do that. 

If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Partner

We'll be happy to give you any support you require. 

Want to know more about Spring and Oscars? 

Check out our socials on  Linkedin, Facebook or Youtube.

Job Description 

See below for further information about working with us:

Employee Reward Booklet

Spring Early Years Career Pathway