Early Childhood Educator

**About The Role**:
**Early Childhood Educator - Ark Start Oval**

**Reporting to**: Nursery Manager

**Location**: Ark Start Oval (East Croydon, CR0 6BA)

**Contract**: Permanent

**Working Pattern**: Full-time - All Year Round

**Salar**y**: Competitive

**About the role**:
As we expand, we are looking for a Level 3 qualified Early Childhood Educator to join the team at Ark Start Oval. In this role you will provide the highest standards of physical, emotional, social, and intellectual care for all children in your care, you’ll ensure all children are safeguarded and their welfare and safety are promoted, and you’ll work to provide an enabling environment in which all children can play, learn and develop.

We are looking for people with genuine passion for young children, with the skill, creativity, commitment, energy, and enthusiasm required for leading room practice. You’ll be able to take learning beyond the classroom and interact with outdoor and forest learning, cooking, and gardening - this won’t just be another day in the classroom

**Key Responsibilities**:

- To be responsible for a group of key worker children including observations, assessments and relationships with parents
- To implement the Ark Start curriculum
- To ensure high quality interactions with all children in nursery
- To create an enabling environment where all children make good progress
- To ensure that nursery is safe and secure and following the Ark Start safeguarding policy and procedures
- To keep child records up to date and report to parents and senior staff
- To promote high standards of the nursery at all times to parents, staff, and visitors in line with the Ark Start code of conduct and handbook

**Key Requirements**:

- Level 3 Diploma in Early Years Education and Care or the willingness to work towards qualification
- Right to work in the UK
- An awareness of keeping children safe, noticing safeguarding and welfare concerns, and knowing how and when to take appropriate action
- A team player that can work collaboratively as well as using own initiative
- The ability to reflect on your own practice and a commitment to continuous improvement

**About Ark Start**:
Our dedicated team work together to ensure that every child has a joyful, engaging, and secure nursery experience and leaves us ready to start school happily and confidently. We are driven by our values in everything we do: Aim High, Be Brave, Be Kind and Keep Learning.

Ark Start is at an exciting time in its evolution. We have 5 nurseries across London and aim to expand our reach over the coming years. As we expand, we are looking for an Early Childhood Educators to join our founding team.

**Benefits**:
- **A Real Living Wage Employer**: We are a Real Living Wage employer with a minimum salary of £13.15 per hour for all roles in London. We also pay 11% pension contributions
- **Ongoing Learning**: We are committed to providing the best development for all our staff and we work hard to ensure there are clear career progression routes
- **Annual leave**: We are proud of our staff and want everyone to feel valued for playing their part. That’s why staff receive 25 days holiday each year, excluding bank holidays
- **Wellbeing**: Staff wellbeing is incredibly important to us. We know that while incredibly rewarding, working in a nursery can be challenging. We therefore work hard to ensure all staff have the support and infrastructure they need to take care of their wellbeing
- **Part of a Network**: Ark Start is part of Ark, a charity that aims to transform children’s lives through education. Ark operates a network of 39 schools across London, Birmingham, Portsmouth, and Hastings as well as a number of charitable ventures. Being part of a network means our staff get access to the opportunities, infrastructure, and support of a large organisation.

**About Us**:
Our dedicated team work together to ensure that every child has a joyful, engaging, and secure nursery experience and leaves us ready to start school happily and confidently. We are driven by our values in everything we do: Aim High, Be Brave, Be Kind and Keep Learning.

Ark Start is at an exciting time in its evolution. We opened two nurseries in South London last year and aim to expand our reach over the coming years. As we expand, we are looking for Early Childhood Educator to join our founding team. We are looking for someone with a genuine passion for young children and with the skill, creativity, commitment, and energy to deliver excellent provision at Ark Start.

**Diversity and inclusion**:
We aim to build a diverse and inclusive organisation where everyone - staff and students - can do their best work and achieve their full potential. We want to reflect and represent diverse perspectives across our organisation because we know that doing so will make us stronger and more effective. To know more about Ark’s diversity and inclusion commitments, please click on this link.

**Safeguarding statement**