Nursery Manager Jobs
Nursery Manager Jobs at Seymour House
Are you looking for the next step in your nursery career? If you have gained an early years qualification at level 3 or above, followed by at least two years’ experience working in an early years setting, then a Nursery Manager job could be the right move for you.
See our latest Nursery Manager vacancies
Who are Seymour House nurseries?
Founded in 1988, Seymour House is a family run group that has expanded over the years to include 11 nurseries across Essex and Hertfordshire. Each nursery is run by an amazing team of early years experts who share a desire to give children the best start by inspiring learning and unleashing their imagination.
At Seymour House nurseries we believe in providing beyond brilliant childcare and early years education in a nurturing, wholesome environment. The Nursery Manager in each location is key in supporting the team to uphold these values. As well as taking care of children, we also care for our staff. We value every member of our team and reward them by ensuring they have a fabulous place to work and fulfil their career ambitions.
The Nursery Manager job description
Through inspirational leadership, the Nursery Manager develops and encourages the team to ensure that the nursery is an exceptional place to work whilst delivering outstanding care and education to our children and families.
The Nursery Manager job is a dual leadership role working alongside the Head of Early Years Practice. This is extremely beneficial for both, as together they combine their skills, knowledge and expertise to manage all aspects of the early years provision at the nursery, ensuring it always meets our expectations for exceptional childcare, education and safety.
Whilst working together, each of our leadership roles have specific responsibilities. The diverse and exciting role of the Nursery Manager has a particular focus on safeguarding, health and safety and place management.
Key responsibilities for the Nursery Manager job include:
- Ensuring children are provided with the opportunity to engage in fun and appropriate experiences in line with the Seymour House vision and values.
- Ensuring the learning environment is effective to deliver the Seymour House 5Cs curriculum.
- Menu planning in line with children’s’ dietary needs.
- Building trusted relationships with the team as an excellent role model for Seymour House values.
- Carrying out staff performance reviews to identify strengths and training needs.
- Leading training sessions and team meetings.
- Recruiting, inducting and mentoring new nursery team members.
- Managing all aspects of safeguarding and child protection.
- Undertaking regular health and safety inspections and completing risk assessments.
- Keeping up to date with policies, procedures and statutory requirements.
- Managing monthly fee reconciliation and administration.
- Managing budgets and the nursery’s financial objectives.
- Attending meetings and working collaboratively with other Seymour House management teams.
- Managing nursery places by monitoring enquiries from prospective new families, forecasting occupancy levels and offering places to fill vacancies.
- Ensuring parents and carers are encouraged to engage with their child’s learning and nursery life. This includes receiving excellent customer care and communication from the nursery team.
- Positively promoting and marketing the nursery in the local community in line with our vision and values.
What are the benefits of a Nursery Manager job at Seymour House?
There are many perks to pursuing your childcare career as Manager of a Seymour House nursery. From excellent benefits and bonuses to career development opportunities to having fun at our social events, being part of the brilliant Seymour House team means being part of our family.
What qualifications and experience do I need for a Nursery Manager job?
To be eligible for a Nursery Manager job position, you must meet the following requirements:
- Level 3 or above in Childcare and Education
- GCSE Maths at Grade 4 (Grade C) or above. (Or an equivalent maths qualification).
- At least two years post qualification experience working in an early years setting.
- Strong communication skills.
- Able to build meaningful relationships with children, parents and team members.
- Self-motivated and a ‘can do’ attitude.
- Able to travel and participate in monthly meetings at other nursery settings.
- Eligible to work in the UK and to undertake an advanced DBS check (this will be arranged by Seymour House).
How do I apply for a Nursery Manager job at Seymour House?
If managing one of our outstanding daycare nurseries sounds like your dream job and you meet all the requirements, the next step is to search our current vacancies. When you find a Nursery Manager job vacancy that you are interested in, you’ll find a button to create an account and complete our online application. Once received, we will review your completed application and be in touch to let you know the next steps.
You can find out more about our nursery job interview process in the FAQs on our Early Years Careers page.
of Seymour House nursery staff enjoy their job.
say working for us makes them feel part of something meaningful.
say they have opportunities to learn and develop in their role at Seymour House.
All the benefits
Pursuing your childcare career at a Seymour House nursery has so many benefits. You’ll be part of an amazing team providing beyond brilliant care, education and support to our children and their families.
Nourish your lifestyle
- Competitive salaries
- Discounted gym membership
- Childcare discount
- 28 days holiday, increasing to 31 days
- Recommend a Friend bonus
- Cycle2Work scheme
Make your future bright
- Excellent career progression
- Teacher Training opportunities – fully funded
- Leadership investment training
- Funded training courses available in specialist EY subjects
- Skills development – volunteering with our local charity partner
Nurture your wellbeing
- Free life coaching in our Dream Academy
- Financial wellbeing service
- Glamourous annual awards evening
- Social events throughout the year
A brilliant team you just want to be part of
Strive and accomplish
We’re on a mission to make a real difference to families and create a brighter world for children. Our team values guide our decisions, focus our actions and remind us of what is important about working for Seymour House.
Relish in fun
We love to unwind and have fun at Seymour House! From our glamourous ‘We Are One Awards’ to our sensational ‘We Are One Festival’ and all the way to our exhilarating fancy dress bowling competition; we know how to have a good time!
Giving back
We are dedicated to supporting Home-Start Essex – an amazing charity who help to give children the best possible start in life. Our team love to get involved with fundraising initiatives and rewarding volunteering opportunities.
Take a peek at the wonderful things we do in our nurseries
Early Years Apprenticeships FAQs
What qualifications do I need for a job in a nursery?
For our Early Years Educator roles, you will need a minimum of a Level 3 qualification in Early Years.
If you do not have a Level 3 qualification, our Early Years Apprenticeship programme -(link to apprenticeship page) provides in-house, on the job training where you’ll also earn a competitive salary.
Nursery Food Champion roles do not require any formal qualifications or experience, but you will need a passion for food, nutrition, child development, and working in an environment with young children.
To become a Lunch Assistant or part of our Relief Team you will need to be a natural nurturer, who brings joy and enthusiasm to the nursery day. These roles do not require any formal qualifications.
What if I qualified outside of the UK?
If you gained your childcare qualification in a country other than the UK, then you will need to provide evidence that your qualification is full and relevant. Qualifications gained outside the UK can be verified via the UKNENIC website.
What happens after I have submitted my application?
Once applications have been shortlisted, our team will contact you via phone to discuss our opportunities in more detail. If you are successful, we’ll invite you to attend a video call/interview.
What will happen at the interview?
During your video call/interview, we will discuss your background and the role in more detail and ask you to answer some competency-based questions.
If you are successful you will be invited to a final face-to-face interview with the nursery management team at the nursery setting. You will have the opportunity to take a tour of the nursery, talk to our brilliant team and spend a little time observing what we get up to. You may even get to be involved in an activity with the children for a short period. This will give you an insight into our values and practice, and a chance to decide whether the position is right for you.
How should I prepare for the interview?
The interview process is your opportunity to demonstrate your passion for Early Years Education, along with your skills and expertise. It is also your chance to see whether Seymour House is the right choice for you. Before the interview, have a read through the Interview Pack, which will be emailed to you, and think of how you can demonstrate your skills and enthusiasm. Ideally this will be by using examples from previous work, or placement experiences.
Our nursery managers will tell you all about what it is like to work for Seymour House, and the benefits you can expect. It is useful to think of any questions you may have before the interview.
Prepare your journey to the interview in advance – do you know exactly where the nursery is located, how long it takes to get there and where you will park?
Also remember to dress smartly and appropriately for working in an early years setting.
What should I bring with me to the interview?
You should bring evidence of your right to work in the UK. Ideally this will be your passport, however if you do not have one then you can provide a full birth certificate along with a document containing your National Insurance number. A full list of acceptable documents can be found here.
You should also bring with you your certificates for any qualifications that are required for the role.
Are there any checks I need to go through before being employed?
If you are successful at the final stage interview, you will be contacted and offered a conditional offer of employment at our nursery. This offer is on the condition of us receiving two satisfactory references (one of which must be your current or most recent employer), an enhanced DBS disclosure, proof of your qualifications and evidence of your right to work in the UK.
What will your induction into the role look like?
To ensure all our new joiners feel happy and settled as quickly as possible, everyone has a thorough induction plan. This is led by the nursery management team and your very own mentor. Your mentor will look after you from day one, answer all those first few week questions, and make you feel part of our brilliant team as quickly as possible.
However, our induction starts even before day one. We will keep in contact with you to discuss your first day, this could be a visit into the nursery or a phone call. We’ll cover things like dress code, when to collect your uniform and where to park, all the things that will make day one feel a little bit less dauting – we understand that starting a new job can be nerve wracking.
Your first day doesn’t need to feel like that though, as we’ll look after you! You’ll be welcomed by our management team who will give you a tour of the nursery, introduce you to your colleagues and tell you everything you need to know. From where to hang your coat, where to store your lunch and how to log into our Community Pages, which are full of loads more information about Seymour House.
During your first week there will be some induction training to complete to ensure you are fully up to date with our important policies and procedures around safeguarding, health and safety and working with our children and families. You will have plenty of time to complete this training, which is mainly online.
Your mentor will work alongside you, guide you through your first few weeks and months, introduce you to the children and parents, and be on hand to ask any questions, however small or big!
Begin your Early Years Career today
Living our values, every day
Children are at the heart of everything we do. The Seymour House team values are written by our team for our team and remind us of what is important about working here. We live our values every day.
Say hello to our 3 Bs…
Beyond Brilliant
Our families get nothing but the best from us.
Better Together
We are united in supporting families to thrive.
Be Kind
Our families get nothing but the best from us.
