An exciting opportunity has come up for a qualified Room Leader to join our team at Cherry Tree Nursery, leading our Dolphin room team working with our 2-5 year olds. Candidates will have experience in leading practice in a team and of working with children under 5 years of age.
Cherry Tree Nursery is located in Hollingdean, close to Lewes Road and Fiveways. Cherry Tree is a purpose-built nursery within Hollingdean Childrens centre offering care and early learning for children from 3 months to 5 years. We have a large garden space. We are a close knit team committed to making a difference to the children and families we work with.
Please note this vacancy is for 37 hours per week, all year round including the school holidays. We pride ourselves on being child led in our practice and engage in a lot of creative and sensory play. We have an amazing garden and use the outdoors in all weathers. Every child and family has a key person to help them feel welcome and supported. The key person is the main person to care for and understand the children’s individual interests and build secure attachments to enable them to explore the opportunities and activities the nursery offers.
We pride ourselves on our staff who have a wealth of experience and who support all our children and families. Applicants must be qualified to a minimum level 3 in early years and childcare; be committed to providing a high quality of care for the children; be an effective communicator; have a good understanding of meeting the individual needs of young children and their families and experience of working with young children.
The role is to provide high quality care and education for children. Duties include providing high quality care and activities for children; creating a secure, safe and stimulating environment; working in partnership with parents and carers; being a key person for a group of children; following the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework and other appropriate guidance; working with other early years professionals for example health visitors, speech and language therapists, Ethnic Minority Achievement Service, being aware of child protection issues and following the council’s child protection procedures and close monitoring of children with whom there are concerns.
At Cherry Tree Nursery, we support all of our staff with on-going professional development and training opportunities. Additionally, we offer Room Leader training to support new candidates in working to our ethos and job description. We have a qualified Early Years Teacher who works closely with the Room Leader. As a BHCC employee you will benefit from all the council employee benefits.
There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact the Nursery Manager Caroline on 01273 295616 or email
[email protected]
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
