Childcare & nursery manager

Hatching Dragons is not a basic nursery group. We are early years development specialists, and the distinction matters enormously. We deliver structured multilingual education throughout the day. We have a commercially qualified head chef preparing fresh, nutritionally balanced food for every setting. We have strong research links with UCL’s Institute of Education and Cambridge University’s Child Development and Psychology departments, and emerging relationships with the Anna Freud Centre for a clinically grounded mental health programme for our staff, children, and families.

Our Westminster nursery (located in Pimlico) has just completed a significant refurbishment and is preparing to double in capacity from September 2026. This is not a steady-state management role. This is a building role for a leader who wants to shape something, not just run something. You will join a group nursery leadership team that is readying for national and international expansion, have direct line into the Managing Director and will be part of the conversations that shape where this organisation goes next.

This is a full-scope nursery management role with genuine leadership responsibility. You are not the most senior person in a room, you are the leader of a setting.

• Lead, coach, and inspire a growing team of practitioners, room leaders, and apprentices across all rooms.
• Hold your team to high standards, with the coaching and support to meet it.

Educational Quality & Curriculum

• Take ownership of the delivery of the Hatching Dragons 3C curriculum and Child Development Framework across all rooms.
• Drive outstanding EYFS practice — with the sights set firmly on operating at exceptional Ofsted standards.
• Ensure every child is observed, known, and supported against their developmental milestones.
• Oversee the Development Support Plan framework — ensuring every child who needs additional focus is identified and supported proactively.
• Lead the multilingual and World Food Day programme delivery with excellence and consistency.
• Manage the day-to-day operational running of the setting — including staffing, ratios, rotas, and resource management.
• Ensure full EYFS statutory compliance across safeguarding, welfare, health and safety, and all regulatory requirements.
• Maintain inspection readiness at all times — the standard that is lived daily, not prepared for occasionally.
• Manage relationships with external agencies, local authority, health visitors, and SEND specialists.

Family Partnership & Community

• Build and maintain exceptional family relationships — treating every parent as a partner in their child's development, not a customer to be managed.
• Represent Hatching Dragons to prospective families — conducting tours, converting enquiries, and building the Westminster community.
• Be the visible face of Hatching Dragons Westminster in the local community and among existing families.

Commercial & Growth

• Lead the nursery sales programme, engaging across the local community to attract potential new parents into the nursery.
• Input into the wider group strategy — sharing intelligence from the setting that informs how we grow.

We aren't looking for JUST a qualified nursery manager, but a leader who is genuinely excited by what we are building and has the capability to help us build it too.

You have the foundations:

• Level 3 Early Years qualification or above (EYFS-approved).
• At least one full nursery management role — you have run a setting before.
• Strong working knowledge of the EYFS, Ofsted inspection framework and statutory safeguarding requirements.
• A track record of building genuine family partnerships, not just communicating with parents, but partnering with them.
• High energy, high standards, and genuinely ambitious — for the children in your care, for your team, and for the organisation.
• Deeply committed to early years development as a specialism — not just as a job.
• You want to be part of building something, not just running something.

This is a group nursery leadership role with a single-setting focus. You will be part of a leadership team that includes Nursery Managers across our London settings, the central support team, continuous improvement consultants, and the Managing Director.

Safeguarding Statement: Hatching Dragons is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This role is subject to an enhanced DBS disclosure, satisfactory references and all other pre-employment checks required under the EYFS Statutory Framework and Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE).

The Hatching Dragons 3C curriculum, Teaching & Learning Master Framework & Child Development Frameworks are ready. Your job is to bring them to life consistently across every room — building the coaching culture that makes high standards stick and establishing yourself as a visible, trusted leader from day one.

Months 2–4 — Prepare for Ofsted. The team able to articulate intent, implementation and impact with confidence. Safeguarding airtight.