Senior Early Years Practitioner

**We have an exciting opportunity for someone to join our senior team at Smarties day Nursery. We are looking for a confident individual who will work closely with the management team and who will always strive to achieve the best outcomes for children.**

**General responsibilities**:
To observe all nursery policies, procedures and working practices

To work in collaboration with all stakeholders to achieve the nursery’s aims

To strive towards continuous improvement throughout the nursery setting

To undertake any other duties which are reasonable within the scope and grade of this post

To ensure the effective implementation of the Nursery’s Inclusion and Equality Policy and supporting action plans

To effectively steer the delivery of high quality education for all children in our care

To act as an ambassador for the Nursery in all aspects of work. To be aware of the high profile and good reputation of the nursery and to uphold its standard at all times

To be a good role model for all children and staff members

To be responsible for implementing published nursery policy to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all staff coming on site and for ensuring that staff, students and visitors are provided with appropriate information, instructions and supervision to ensure safe working practices within the Nursery

To take reasonable care of your own health, safety and welfare and that of any other person who may be affected by your actions whilst at work. You are also required to co-operate with the nursery to enable it to fulfil its legal duties and responsibilities

To show commitment to your own professional development

**Leadership responsibilities**:
To take an active role as a member of the Senior Leadership Team supporting quality improvement initiatives, curriculum development, attending and contributing to meetings as and when required

To liaise with the Nursery Manager and Deputy Manager each day to ensure the smooth running of the nursery environment

To take responsibility for the leadership of a room or floor or a specific area of work as appropriate

To mentor and support other practitioners

To carry out 6 weekly supervisions with identified staff members

To act as a key holder and be able to open and close the site on behalf of the company in line with the nursery procedure

To take responsibility for the day to day Health and Safety issues reporting any findings immediately to the Nursery Manager/proprietors.

To support the Nursery Manager in the completion of all nursery administrative duties including
- Daily monitoring of staff/children ratios
- Inductions for parents/children
- Reporting to parents
- Nursery rotas and children’s food menus

To assist with the training and development of other staff and students

**The Care and Education of the children**:
To ensure a high standard of care is provided for all the children at the nursery

To help plan and implement activities suitable to the age range of the children attending nursery, making sure that the Early Years Foundation Stage framework is applied

To ensure that play meets the needs of every child, taking into account their race, culture, age and ability

To actively assist in all aspects of childcare and welfare of the children in the nursery

**Communication**:
To work with and support other members of the team within the nursery

To liaise with and/or support parents/carers and other family members

To inform management of any concerns or problems with the children, parents or other members of staff

To welcome children and their parents/ carers with a smile, a friendly greeting and to settle the children into nursery making them feel happy

To be aware of the requirements of the Data Protection Act and other legislation, ensuring confidentiality of information at all times in accordance with Nursery policy

To record, report and circulate as appropriate all messages to ensure an effective means of communication between staff and parents

To attend and contribute towards staff meetings as required

To attend, participate in and contribute to training sessions and to feed back new skills and knowledge to colleagues

To maintain development reports on your own key children and support other staff members in the completion of their work

To offer support and guidance for other Practitioners, students and volunteers/visitors who may be working in your group

To maintain effective working relations with parents/carers, professionals in other agencies and other individuals involved with the Nursery

**Setting**:
To implement the daily Nursery routine, leading by example

To manage, maintain and clean play equipment and materials, ensuring they are in a safe condition for the children to use

To undertake domestic duties within the nursery, such as preparing snacks, maintaining the cleaning rota etc

**Health & Safety**:
To observe at all times the correct Health and Safety procedures complying with the Nursery policies