EARLY YEARS DEPUTY MANAGER WANTED Charlie’s House Childminding & Nursery – Braintree, Essex. Are you an experienced Early Years professional who is ready to help lead a setting, develop a team and make a genuine difference to children and families?
Charlie’s House Childminding & Nursery is looking for a knowledgeable, confident, caring and highly motivated Early Years Deputy Manager to join our leadership team.
This is not simply a senior practitioner position.
We are looking for someone who wants to take real responsibility for the quality, safety and day-to-day operation of the setting, working closely alongside our Manager and leadership team.
We need someone who can lead by example, support and challenge staff appropriately, maintain high expectations and, most importantly, always keep children’s safety, wellbeing and best interests at the centre of decision-making.
ABOUT CHARLIE’S HOUSE
Charlie’s House is an independent, family-focused Childminding & Nursery setting in Braintree, Essex.
We pride ourselves on offering children a warm, nurturing and homely environment alongside high-quality early education and care.
We do things a little differently.
We are not a setting built around rigid sessions or trying to fit families into predetermined boxes.
Our families can access:
- Full-time childcare
- Part-time childcare
- Term-time-only contracts
- Holiday-only childcare
- Term-time contracts with additional ad-hoc holiday care
- Flexible/ad-hoc childcare for shift-working families
- Government-funded early education
- Tax-Free Childcare
Our highly qualified team work together to provide the flexibility families need while ensuring children receive consistency, security and high-quality care.
We believe that quality should never be compromised for numbers, and we deliberately aim not to operate continually at maximum capacity or minimum staffing ratios.
THE ROLE
As Deputy Manager, you will work closely with the Nursery Manager to ensure the setting operates safely, effectively and in accordance with all statutory requirements.
You will be expected to be a visible and active leader within the setting.
Some days you may be supporting staff in a room.
Other days you may be completing supervision, reviewing safeguarding practice, supporting a parent, checking documentation, mentoring a room leader, dealing with an incident or helping the Manager undertake compliance and quality-assurance work.
You must therefore be comfortable moving between leadership, administration and hands-on Early Years practice.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE Children & Quality of Practice
- Helping to ensure every child receives consistently high-quality care and education.
- Promoting secure attachments and warm, responsive interactions.
- Ensuring children's individual needs, routines and developmental needs are understood and met.
- Monitoring the quality of teaching, interactions and provision throughout the setting.
- Supporting staff to provide meaningful, developmentally appropriate learning experiences.
- Ensuring children requiring additional support are identified and supported appropriately.
- Promoting inclusion and equality throughout the setting.
- Supporting effective transitions between rooms, settings and school.
- Ensuring children's voices, interests and experiences influence practice.
Safeguarding
Safeguarding is everybody's responsibility, but as a senior leader you will be expected to demonstrate particularly strong safeguarding knowledge and professional curiosity.
You will:
- Help maintain a strong safeguarding culture throughout the setting.
- Understand your responsibilities under the EYFS statutory framework and wider safeguarding legislation and guidance.
- Recognise signs and indicators of abuse, neglect and exploitation.
- Understand appropriate safeguarding referral pathways.
- Know when concerns must be escalated.
- Support staff to understand safeguarding procedures.
- Challenge unsafe or inappropriate practice.
- Understand whistleblowing responsibilities.
- Support effective record keeping and chronology management.
- Understand allegations and concerns relating to adults working with children.
- Understand safer recruitment principles.
- Support the DSL and safeguarding leadership structure within the setting.
- Be confident making difficult decisions where children's welfare may be at risk.
The successful applicant will either already hold appropriate Designated Safeguarding Lead training or be willing to complete this.
TEAM LEADERSHIP
You will help us develop a knowledgeable, confident and accountable workforce.
This will include:
- Leading by example.
- Coaching and mentoring practitioners.
- Supporting Room Leaders and Deputy Room Leaders.
- Undertaking staff supervision.
- Supporting probation and induction processes.
- Identifying training and development needs.
- Supporting apprentices and less experienced practitioners.
- Addressing poor or unsafe practice appropriately.
- Encouraging reflective practice.
- Supporting staff wellbeing while maintaining professional expectations.
- Delegating effectively.
- Helping maintain positive communication throughout the team.
- Supporting performance management where necessary.
- Helping create a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns and ask for help.
We are looking for someone who understands that good leadership is not about telling people what to do – it is about developing people so that they understand why they are doing it.
COMPLIANCE & GOVERNANCE
You will support the Manager in ensuring that Charlie's House remains compliant with relevant legislation, statutory guidance and regulatory requirements.
This may include helping monitor:
- EYFS statutory requirements
- Safeguarding arrangements
- Staff suitability
- Recruitment documentation
- DBS and suitability records
- Staff qualifications
- Paediatric First Aid coverage
- Staff deployment and ratios
- Children's attendance
- Accident and incident records
- Medication administration
- Risk assessments
- Fire safety
- Food safety and allergies
- Health and safety
- Safer sleep
- Supervision arrangements
- Staff training
- Policies and procedures
- Complaints
- Ofsted notification requirements
- Record keeping
- Confidentiality and data protection
- SEND arrangements
- Emergency procedures
You do not need to know absolutely everything on your first day.
You do need to have the professional curiosity and motivation to find out.
OFSTED
You should be comfortable being accountable for your practice and discussing it with senior leaders and external professionals.
With appropriate development, you will be expected to confidently discuss with Ofsted:
- Safeguarding arrangements
- Staff deployment
- Children's experiences
- Curriculum and pedagogy
- Inclusion
- SEND
- Staff knowledge
- Training
- Supervision
- Leadership oversight
- Quality assurance
- Children's safety and wellbeing
You may also be required to take responsibility for the setting in the Manager's absence.
WORKING WITH FAMILIES
Charlie’s House exists to support children and their families.
Our Deputy Manager must therefore be approachable, respectful and confident communicating with parents and carers.
You may be required to:
- Support new families during settling-in.
- Discuss children's development.
- Respond to concerns.
- Support families experiencing difficulties.
- Manage sensitive conversations.
- Explain setting policies and procedures.
- Signpost families to additional services.
- Manage complaints professionally.
- Maintain appropriate professional boundaries.
WE ARE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO:Essential
- Holds a full and relevant Level 3 Early Years qualification or above.
- Has substantial experience working within Early Years.
- Has experience of taking responsibility within an Early Years setting.
- Has a strong understanding of the EYFS.
- Has good safeguarding knowledge.
- Understands children's development from birth to five.
- Can lead and motivate other people.
- Communicates confidently with staff and parents.
- Is organised and able to prioritise.
- Can make appropriate decisions under pressure.
- Understands confidentiality and professional boundaries.
- Is willing to challenge poor practice.
- Can reflect upon their own practice.
- Is willing to undertake further training.
- Has a genuine commitment to improving outcomes for children.
Particularly desirable
We would particularly welcome applicants who have:
- Previous Deputy Manager, Room Leader or senior leadership experience.
- Designated Safeguarding Lead training.
- Paediatric First Aid.
- SEND experience.
- SENCo training or experience.
- Safer recruitment knowledge.
- Experience conducting staff supervision.
- Experience with Ofsted inspections.
- Experience managing staff performance.
- Understanding of Prevent.
- Knowledge of safer sleep.
- Food safety/allergy awareness.
- Health and safety knowledge.
- Experience undertaking Early Years quality assurance.
- Level 4, Level 5 or Early Years degree-level study.
Don't be put off if you don't tick every desirable box.
For the right person, knowledge can be developed.
Attitude, integrity, professional curiosity and willingness to learn matter enormously to us.
THE PERSON WE ARE LOOKING FOR
Qualifications alone will not secure this position.
We are looking for someone who is:
Kind.
Approachable.
Reliable.
Organised.
Professional.
Reflective.
Emotionally intelligent.
Confident enough to lead.
Humble enough to keep learning.
Strong enough to challenge when something isn't right.
You should be the sort of person who notices something and deals with it rather than walking past it because “it's not my job.”
You should be able to support someone when they are struggling while still being prepared to hold them accountable for their practice.
And you should be passionate about creating a workplace where adults work together because children deserve consistency, stability and excellent care.
DEVELOPMENT
We do not expect our Deputy Manager to stop learning once they have the job.
The successful applicant will receive ongoing training, mentoring and professional development and will be expected to continue developing their knowledge of Early Years leadership, safeguarding and compliance.
We want someone who could ultimately become an exceptionally strong Early Years leader.
For the right candidate, this role could therefore provide significant opportunities for further development and progression.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US
In return, you will join a setting that genuinely cares about its children, families and team.
You can expect:
- A supportive leadership structure.
- A friendly and established team.
- Ongoing professional development.
- Access to additional training.
- Leadership mentoring and support.
- Opportunities to develop specialist areas of responsibility.
- A setting that encourages ideas and professional discussion.
- A management team that is continually looking at how we can improve.
- A varied role where no two days are quite the same.
- The opportunity to make a genuine contribution to the future development of Charlie's House.
SAFER RECRUITMENT
Charlie’s House Childminding & Nursery is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
The successful applicant will be subject to our safer recruitment procedures, including appropriate:
- Identity checks
- Qualification checks
- Employment-history checks
- References
- Enhanced DBS checks
- Suitability checks
- Right-to-work checks
- Health/suitability declarations where applicable
Applicants should be prepared to explain any gaps in employment history.
Appointment will be subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks.
LOCATION
Charlie’s House Childminding & Nursery
Braintree, Essex
Position:
Early Years Deputy Manager
CHARLIE’S HOUSE CHILDMINDING & NURSERY
Flexible for families.
Nurturing for children.
Supportive of our team.
Always striving to be better.
If you are looking for a Deputy Manager position where you can simply hold the title, this probably isn't the role for you.
If you want to learn, lead, challenge, develop people and help us provide outstanding experiences for children – we'd really like to meet you.
Pay: From £25,420.00 per year
Benefits:
- Bereavement leave
- Casual dress
- Childcare
- Company pension
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
- Employee mentoring programme
- Flexitime
- Free parking
- Health & wellbeing programme
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
- Work from home
Work Location: In person
