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- Tasks: Lead a room in delivering high-quality early years education and care for children.
- Company: Join Spring Harlequin, a nurturing nursery dedicated to children's growth.
- Benefits: Enjoy 25 days annual leave, flexible family packages, and discounts at 15,000 retailers.
- Other info: Diverse and inclusive workplace with clear career pathways and opportunities for growth.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on children's lives while developing your career in a supportive environment.
- Qualifications: Level 3 childcare qualification and experience in early years settings required.
The predicted salary is between 28000 - 28000 £ per year.
Location: Witham
Salary: up to £28,000 per annum
Contract/Hours: Permanent/Full Time – 40 hours per week
Closing date: Midnight on the 22nd May 2026
Benefits:
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Professional qualifications and excellent training
- Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages
- Up to 5% employer contribution and life assurance cover
- Blue Light Card eligibility with discounts at 15,000 national retailers
About the role
As a Senior Early Years Practitioner, you’ll play a key role in the nursery’s daily routine, leading your room to deliver high quality early years education and care for all children. You will plan, implement and review engaging activities that promote learning and development in line with the EYFS, ensuring every child thrives in a safe, stimulating, and inclusive environment. In this role, you will support and guide other practitioners, model best practice, and help maintain strong, positive partnerships with parents and carers. You'll be responsible for completing accurate and up-to-date observations, assessments, and records.
What you’ll be doing
In the role of Senior Early Years Practitioner, you'll be:
- Leading the staff within the room on providing learning programmes for individual or groups of children appropriate to their needs and developmental stages in accordance with Early Years legislation and guidance.
- Supporting children with emerging or established special educational needs, working closely with families, staff, external agencies, and professionals to ensure each child's needs are understood and met.
- Ensuring the compliance and application of nursery policies and procedures and relevant legislative requirements, informing management immediately of any instances of non-compliance or variations in practices.
- Contributing to and participating in the wider nursery management through leading on specific areas of development within the nursery, as directed by the Nursery Manager.
- Preparing and supervising dedicated areas/rooms within the setting on specific working patterns through planning, monitoring of outcomes, managing ratio of children, and the provision of a stimulating and appropriate range of activities whilst ensuring health and care needs are met.
What we need from you
In the role of Senior Early Years Practitioner, we're ideally looking for someone who has:
- Level 3 early years and childcare qualification e.g., NNEB, CACHE, NVQ Level 3 in Childcare and Education.
- A thorough knowledge of children's developmental needs from 0 to 5 years.
- Experience working and leading in an early year setting.
- Strong planning, observation, and reflection of children and their learning.
- Effective communication skills across multiple age groups.
- Paediatric First Aid qualification.
About the nursery
Spring Harlequin is a 37-place nursery caring for children from birth to 7 years, offering full-day sessions and wrap-around care with breakfast and after-school fun. It offers a home-from-home environment where children are encouraged to play, explore, and grow at their own pace, guided by caring practitioners who help them become confident, curious learners. As a Senior practitioner, you’ll join our dynamic team, working together to support each child’s learning to ensure each day is fun and engaging.
Why Spring Nurseries
Imagine a place where laughter echoes, imaginations run wild, and every day is a new adventure. At Spring Nurseries, we are more than a collection of settings; we are a family, dedicated to nurturing children to thrive and supporting staff through a clear career pathway. Whether this is a career change for you or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you. We work together to reach our mission to give children a healthy start in life. Good luck! We can't wait to hear from you.
Contact
If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Team at RecruitmentService@actionforchildren.org.uk quoting reference 13098. 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 Job Description 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.
Want to know more about Spring and Oscars?
Check out our socials on LinkedIn, Facebook, or YouTube.
See below for further information about working with us: Employee Reward Booklet, Spring Early Years Career Pathway, Job Description.
Senior Early Years Practitioner in Witham employer: Action for Children
Contact Detail:
Action for Children Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Early Years Practitioner in Witham
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the early years sector, attend local events, and join relevant online groups. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can put in a good word for you.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for interviews by practising common questions and scenarios specific to early years education. Think about how you would lead a room, support children with special needs, and engage parents. Confidence is key!
✨Tip Number 3
Showcase your passion for early years education during interviews. Share stories of your experiences, highlight your qualifications, and explain how you can contribute to creating a nurturing environment for children.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, we love hearing from candidates who are genuinely excited about joining our team.
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Early Years Practitioner in Witham
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the Senior Early Years Practitioner role. Highlight your relevant experience, qualifications, and skills that match the job description. We want to see how you can lead and inspire in an early years setting!
Craft a Compelling Supporting Statement: Your supporting statement is your chance to shine! Use it to explain why you're passionate about early years education and how your unique qualities align with our mission. Remember, we’re looking for someone who can contribute to a nurturing environment.
Showcase Your Communication Skills: Effective communication is key in this role. In your application, demonstrate how you've successfully communicated with children, parents, and colleagues in the past. We want to know how you build those strong partnerships!
Apply Through Our Website: Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it gives you a chance to explore more about our nursery and what we stand for.
How to prepare for a job interview at Action for Children
✨Know Your EYFS Inside Out
Make sure you’re well-versed in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. Brush up on how it guides your planning and assessment, as you'll need to demonstrate your understanding of children's developmental needs during the interview.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
As a Senior Early Years Practitioner, you'll be leading a team. Prepare examples of how you've successfully guided others in previous roles. Think about specific situations where you modelled best practices or supported colleagues in their development.
✨Engage with Real Scenarios
Be ready to discuss real-life scenarios you’ve encountered in early years settings. Whether it’s handling special educational needs or creating engaging activities, having concrete examples will show your practical experience and problem-solving skills.
✨Communicate Effectively
Effective communication is key in this role. Practice articulating your thoughts clearly and confidently. You might even want to prepare a few questions to ask the interviewers about their approach to parent partnerships or staff development, showing your interest in collaboration.