About the role:

Ark Start nurseries are staffed by professional early-years practitioners who provide a carefully balanced mix of play-based and adult-led learning in nurseries. A nursery manager should be someone with a genuine passion for working with young children and with the knowledge, skill, creativity, and commitment to lead provision at our nursery.

Key Responsibilities:

General

• To create a nurturing, fun, safe and caring nursery environment that meets the needs of every child
• To implement Ark Start model including curriculum, forest school and family programme
• To ensure compliance to all Ark Start and statutory policies
• To have a deep knowledge and understanding of the EYFS statutory framework and child development
• To lead on nursery improvement and engage with regular coaching and monitoring of the provision and ensure the nursery is constantly improving
• Actively promote the safety and welfare of our children and young people
• To participate fully in training and network activities
• To build close relationships with the host school, local authority and other local organisations
• Liaise with colleagues and external contacts at all levels of seniority with confidence, tact and diplomacy
• Ensure the management information system is up to date
• Ensure high quality parent communications in line with the Ark Start model
• Ensure the ‘look and feel’ of the nursery is in line with Ark Start expectations and values
• Any other reasonable task as directed by your line manager
• SEND and safeguarding
• To be the Designated SENDCo; to regularly assess impact of provision put in place for initial concern and SEND children as well as work closely with families and play partners to ensure individual children’s needs are being fully met.
• To be DSL and ensure all safeguarding policies and risk assessments are up to date, kept under review and that all staff are following them
• To write and keep up to date all Risk Assessments and ensure all staff are aware of and following these

Line management

• To line manage and effectively deploy staff to ensure exceptional provision
• To use data to inform teaching and learning, identify areas for intervention and provide feedback to children, staff and families in order to ensure accelerated progress
• Deploy and manage staff to ensure exceptional provision for children
• Lead training, coach and supervise staff team to ensure ongoing improvement
• Work collaboratively with colleagues as a committed team member, building successful, high performing teams