Job description – Nursery rated as one of the top 20 in Southeast England
Why join us? Be part of a small family business and manage a room with a maximum of 12 under 2's. Work 'four days on’ and ‘one day off’ each week (38hrs per week). Staff work from 7:50am until 6:05pm each day.
The post is for a fully qualified Early Years Practitioner as a 'Room Manager' ideally from 1st September 2026, however we could delay for the right candidate. You must have previous experience with this 0-2 age group. A *Full & Relevant Early Years Level 3 or above qualification is a non-negotiable . Please do not apply if you do not hold a 'Full & Relevant' recognised Early Years qualification. We would like to interview and recruit swiftly to have as little impact on our children and colleagues as possible.
This is an opportunity to join us in our beautiful Nursery but we require a special kind of person to ensure we have the perfect fit for our children, families, and team. Professionally, we are looking for someone who is confident, empathetic and hardworking to support us in delivering our shared ethos and help provide a secure and stimulating environment for the little ones. As an extended family, we are looking for someone who is completely reliable, honest and kind with a positive attitude. Could you be a grown-up friend and role model to our little ones, an advisor to our families and a trusted support and leader to room colleagues? We need someone who will deliver our self devised 'Curriculum web' and direct our team with confidence while ensuring clarity, kindness and enthusiasm combined with complete professionalism. Our most recent OFSTED rating of 'Good' confirmed our self-assessment that we would like more creative challenge for our youngest children. Our current Room Manager has done a wonderful job of upgrading the planning with clear INTENT but we now need to find a suitable replacement due to her understandable decision to move on from our setting. Are you the person that has the appropriate experience and personal desire to support taking the Sunbeam team to the next level of development? Please get in touch and find out more. Our 'Sunbeam' room (0-2) really is a delightful place to be. You would support our youngest little ones as they learn to communicate, walk and feed themselves while in good company; Sunbeam team are extremely supportive, positive, creative and friendly. Our new parents know they are leaving their babies in good hands, so why not join our trusted team?
As a family owned Nursery, we care about our team and make significant ongoing investment in Staff Training, Resources and the Nursery environment in order to continue the improvement of our setting. You can see it for yourself at: www.sparklingminds.co.uk/about-us/our-setting/with an online tour of the building and grounds. The babies have their own garden attached to their base room and the older children have a large separate outdoor space to play and learn. Our outside space has an additional section of adjoining land which is dedicated to our Forest School which is lead by our Senior Lead Practitioner each week.
As we are set on farmland, please consider the ability to travel to and from site each day as we are not on a public transport route - most suited to drivers although several staff ride their bike to work each day. We have a large car park, so no extra issues or cost are incurred for parking while at work.
We have four values at the heart of all that we do:
‘Be Kind, Be Honest, Be Fair & Be Respectful’
Staff work 38 hrs per week from 7:50am until 6:05pm each day with a 15 minute paid break each day with a 45 minute unpaid lunchbreak. Our doors open to children at 8am and last child can be collected at 6pm. We are open to families all year with the exception of a week of Christmas closure and Bank Holidays. *We do not offer term time only contracts. .
Pay range shown would be dependent on qualifications and appropriate experience. *For the a qualified team member who may choose to travel from slightly further afield, we consider a monthly travel support payment (at our discretion) which would be discussed at the point of interview. We offer a free package of training to all our staff and provide several sets of uniform. 50% discounted childcare is available for staff children requiring a place in our setting (subject to availability of spaces). As part of our family business, we will know you as an individual and look after you as an employee to ensure you can look after our little ones!
Visit www.sparklingminds.co.uk for contact details and an opportunity to look at our 360 tour.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Preferred candidates will be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and will be required to complete safeguarding training. We will also require at least two positive references before employment can begin.
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Pay: £29,640.00-£30,940.00 per year
Benefits:
- Additional leave
- Childcare
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Bicester, Oxfordshire: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- After reading the information on our website describing our setting, why would you like to work at our setting over any other in the local area? www.sparklingminds.co.uk
- Do you have experience of senior role/responsibilities?
Experience:
- 0-2 age group: 1 year (required)
Work Location: In person
