Early Years Specalist

Join the Family First team now! 

Position: Early Years Specialist
Hours: 40 hours per week 
Salary: c. £50,000 per annum dependent upon experience 
Qualification: Full and relevant Level 3 Childcare Qualification 
Location: M1 Corridor from Milton Keynes to the East Midlands

In this role you will be trusted and responsible for working within a defined geography of Settings and the nursery teams to set strategic directions to continuously improve the overall practice quality of the nurseries in their area through outstanding leadership and innovative practices and behaviours. You will also need to ensure high-quality care and education for children, maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements, including safeguarding practices, and achieving financial and operational targets when deployed. Within this role you will be deployed into nurseries when required to lead and operate the setting on a day-to-day basis for cover periods when required. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• People: To lead, inspire and motivate the team ensuring they are equipped with the appropriate skills and attitudes to perform effectively in their roles. 
• Training: Induction/ Talent and succession planning/ Safeguarding/ CPD
• Auditing: Quality audits/ Staff compliance/ EY usage/ Statutory requirements audits/ Health and Safety audits 
• Incident Management: Coach and mentor teams through safeguarding incidents/ field calls/ instruct and guide investigations/ lead disciplinary action or facilitate when appropriate 
• Parachuting: Deployment to a setting to lead in the absence of a Nursery Manager providing safeguarding and continuity for teams, families and the business 

Essential Experience: 

• Full and relevant Level 3 or above Childcare qualification 
• Minimum of 5 years Early Years experience 
• Minimum of 4 years Nursery Manager experience with some field or multi-setting experience
• Experience in leading an Ofsted audit within the last 12 months 
• Experience of successfully passing an Ofsted inspection to a Good/Outstanding rating 
• Working expertise in Safeguarding and its application in Early Years environments
• Experience supporting multiple nurseries 
• Fluent in spoken and written English and English qualification (GCSE minimum grade C/4 or equivalent) 
• Maths qualification (GCSE minimum grade C/4 or equivalent) 

Desirable Experience:

• Level 5 qualification in Childcare and/or Management and Leadership
• Excellent communication and prioritisation skills
• Effective project management, delivering within time and budget constraints 

Why Join Us?

At Family First, we value our team members and offer a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Annual Leave: Starting at 27 days, plus a paid day off for your birthday and bank holidays 
• Childcare Discounts: 75% off nursery fees for our team member’s
• Mental Wellbeing: Confidential employee assistance helpline available 
• Personal Learning & Development: Tailored learning and development opportunities to support your career growth

We are committed to safeguarding and protecting the welfare of children and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.  A Disclosure and Barring Service Certificate will be required for all posts. This post will be subject to enhanced checks as part of our Safeguarding Duty.

The Family First Group take great care to treat everyone as a person, with equal rights and responsibilities to any other individual, whether they are an adult or a child. We are committed to providing equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children and families according to their individual needs. Discrimination on the grounds of gender, age, race, religion or belief, marriage or civil partnership, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, ethnic or national origin, or political belief has no place within the Family First Group.