Deputy Nursery Manager: Lead & Inspire Early Years Team

As a deputy nursery manager, you will be assisting the nursery management on the day-to-day running of one of the two nurseries and a drop-in centre. You will work with the nursery manager to effectively lead all the staff within QCCA’s children services ensuring consistency in policy whilst developing and inspiring the team to excel in their endeavours. In the absence of the nursery manager, you will undertake the day‑to‑day management of the nursery. You will support the manager to oversee all the activities, planning, monitoring, review, budget, and administration, and effectively communicate with the parents and guardians on a day-to-day basis. You will support the manager to drive and deliver the highest standard of care throughout the nurseries as detailed in the childcare audit and OFSTED inspections. You need to manage staff shortfall by deploying excess staff to other settings and drop‑in centres as and when needed.

KEY DUTIES

• To assist in ensuring that all children attending the nursery are kept safe and receive rich and stimulating play experiences appropriate to their age and stage of development.
• In the absence of the manager to undertake the overall day‑to‑day management of the nursery, including after school club, breakfast club, holiday club, drop-in services and any other supplementary services.
• To assist the manager in ensuring that all legislation in relation to registration with regulatory bodies, special needs, child protection and Health and Safety is complied with and that company policies and procedures are adhered to.
• To work as an effective deputy manager to deliver a high quality, education and care centred service that meets the needs of children and their families.
• Support the manager to ensure that practice and provision in the nursery meets the outstanding requirements of OFSTED and the Early Years Foundation Stage.
• Develop strong parent partnerships to ensure high quality of care and children and parent satisfaction.
• To support the team across all our settings, activities, services, including after‑school club, breakfast club, drop-in centres, holiday club, fundraising events, parents evening and other activities.
• To actively promote and implement the nursery’s vision, with a clear focus on children’s achievement.
• To redevelop regular activity plans to encourage children’s learning through play, by providing a stimulating and enabling environment, which enables all children to develop to their full potential.
• To provide a welcoming and aesthetically pleasing environment which fully reflects, values and respects the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds of the children and families attending the setting or living within the local community.
• To take responsibility for the planning and preparation of all the rooms and the outside areas, using observation of children and evaluation of the provision to ensure all play areas fully enhance children’s learning and interests and are effectively risk assessed.
• To have key worker for a group of children, as agreed by the Nursery Manager, ensuring that each child has access to a broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated curriculum.
• To implement a high quality planned curriculum, in accordance with the Early Years Foundation Stage, to encourage learning and understanding through play activities and to ensure a well‑planned, safe and learning environment.
• To carry out high quality written and photographic observations, planning and assessments using the EYFS development matters bandings, identifying next steps for children’s learning.
• Ensure children’s learning journals are kept up to date and regular reports are written to ensure effective communication with colleagues and parents.
• To work in partnership with internal and external professionals and agencies to ensure key information is shared to support the needs of the children and families within the setting.
• To work in partnership with local schools and settings to share good quality information and ensure children experience smooth transitions.
• To undertake risk assessments on a daily basis and ensure relevant action is taken to minimise, reduce or remove risks to children.
• To clear and tidy the inside and outside play areas at the end of activities or the end of the day.
• To maintain high professional standards to ensure children’s individual needs, dietary needs, and personal care is met at all times and information is shared fully.
• To share responsibility for preparing and serving snacks and light meals/breakfasts for children, adhering to hygiene regulations.
• To ensure telephone enquiries, correspondence and visitors are dealt with appropriately.

Management

• Ensure that all children attending the nursery receive rich and stimulating experiences appropriate to their age and stage of development.
• To support the staff to understand and implement the Early Years Learning Goals.
• Ensure full and concise record is kept and all achievements are recorded for all the children and all necessary targets are pinpointed, demonstrating how to profile children to encourage further development records.
• Ensure staff coached to document observations on each child’s progress, identify achievements, opportunities for progression and development.
• Support the managers across both nurseries to manage staff rota and have set lunch breaks for fairness and to ensure the nursery is not understaffed at any time.
• Ensure all the staff have set time allocated to update learning journals on a weekly basis.
• Support the manager to maintain a database of Bank staff to support the team during staff shortages.
• To actively promote all children’s services and oversee marketing and outreach in the local community.

Human Resource

• Support the nursery manager with staff issues such as performance, grievances, investigations, disciplinary matters, absence management, flexible working, sick leave, return to work interviews and informal conversations.
• Maintain accurate staff personnel files in the Head office and in the nursery, ensuring all suitability checks and evidence of paperwork are in place.

Finance

• Collect parents’ fees and monitor debts in accordance with our terms and conditions and financial procedure.
• Support the manager by ensuring all relevant data such as: administrative, finance and information relevant to parents are collated on a daily basis and inputted onto the Abacus Nursery Management system.
• Support the manager to monitor all expenditure.
• Identify efficiencies to ensure expenses are kept to a minimal.
• Operate a full cost recovery structure for all activities and services.

Policies and Procedures

• Support the manager to implement all nursery policies.
• Supervise the administration of all medication within the nursery ensuring the medicine policy is followed at all times.
• Ensure all medical forms are fully completed and signed by parents.
• Ensure QCCA’s procedures manuals are followed, specifically Childcare, Employee Handbook, HR Guide, Health and Safety, Training and Finance.

Health & Safety

• Lead the responsibility for Health, Safety and Cleanliness throughout the nursery.
• To undertake regular risk assessments.
• To monitor all child protection issues and keep a log of any accident or incident.
• To arrange for effective and regular waste removal.
• To ensure that all front‑line staff maintain the personal hygiene of children.
• Operate the highest standards of hygiene and cleanliness in the bedding, nappy changing and food services areas.
• To ensure that the preparation and cleanliness of nursery playrooms, bedding, nappy-changing room, food-serving areas and equipment is carried out in accordance with set policies and procedures.
• To maintain proper emergency and security procedures including the registration and collection of children.
• Adhere and promote the emergency and security procedures, e.g. fire procedures, routines for dropping off and collecting children and marking the register.
• To be responsible for recording accidents in the accident book.

Security & Equipment

• Support the manager to maintain an inventory of all resources available.
• Ensure care, maintenance and security of all equipment and toys.

General

• Action and monitor all child protection issues, parent issues, complaints and accidents to ensure that remedial action is taken immediately, liaising with the Nursery Managers.
• Ensure that following any OFSTED visits, any recommendations made by the inspectors are set as targets for the nursery to achieve.
• Ensure nursery menus are followed and the fresh food is readily available, ensuring the highest standards of food hygiene at all times.
• Ensure snack and lunch is not ordered in excess and that the costs are recovered from parents.
• Review and monitor occupancy levels to ensure they are maintained to maximum capacity.
• To ensure that the nursery is fully properly equipped and ensure that orders are generated on time.
• Be fully conversant with all operational systems.
• To offer an equal opportunities service with regard to race, gender, culture, faith and/or disability.
• To undertake any additional tasks related to the effective delivery of the Children’s Services from the senior managers.

Equal Opportunities

QCCA is committed to principles of Equal Opportunity for all in terms of service provision and employment. As an employee of the company, it is your responsibility to ensure equality of access to jobs and services to women, Black/ethnic minorities, lesbian and gay men and people with disabilities, regardless of marital status, age, creed/religion and unrelated criminal convictions.