Step into a leadership role where you’ll shape the daily experiences, learning, and development of young children while guiding and inspiring a dedicated team. This is an opportunity to make a tangible difference every day, combining hands-on practice with strategic room management in a well-established early years setting.

About the Role:

As a Room Leader, you will take full responsibility for the effective running of your room, ensuring a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment for all children in your care. You will lead and support a team of practitioners, embedding the EYFS framework into daily practice and ensuring high standards of care and education. Working closely with colleagues, parents, and carers, you will drive continuous improvement and uphold best practice in all aspects of early years provision.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the day-to-day operation of the room, ensuring routines, activities, and resources are well-organised and meet children’s individual needs.
• Plan, implement, and evaluate an engaging early years curriculum in line with the EYFS, promoting learning through play and child-led experiences.
• Oversee and contribute to accurate observations, assessments, and planning for each child’s development, maintaining up-to-date records and learning journeys.
• Ensure robust safeguarding and child protection practices are followed, responding promptly and appropriately to any concerns.
• Provide clear direction, support, and supervision to room staff, delegating tasks effectively and promoting a positive team culture.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with parents and carers, providing regular feedback and supporting effective home–nursery partnerships.
• Promote positive behaviour management strategies, modelling and reinforcing consistent, age-appropriate approaches.
• Maintain a safe, clean, and well-organised environment, ensuring all health, safety, and regulatory requirements are met.

Key Requirements:

• Proven experience working in an early years setting with responsibility for a key group of children.
• Demonstrable leadership and team management experience within a nursery or similar childcare environment.
• Strong knowledge and practical application of the EYFS framework and early years curriculum planning.
• Solid understanding of safeguarding and child protection procedures, with confidence in following policies and reporting protocols.
• Experience in observation, assessment, and planning for children’s learning and development.
• Excellent communication skills for effective engagement with children, staff, parents, and external professionals.
• Confident behaviour management skills, using positive and consistent strategies.
• Strong organisational and time management abilities, with the capacity to prioritise and manage a busy room environment.

Desirable Skills:

• Experience in delivering or supporting staff training, coaching, or mentoring within an early years setting.
• Previous involvement in quality improvement initiatives or inspections (e.g. Ofsted).
• Competence in using digital systems or software for recording observations and assessments.
• Experience working with children with additional needs and adapting provision accordingly.

Qualifications:

• Level 3 (or above) qualification in Early Years Education/Childcare (or equivalent) – required.
• Current Paediatric First Aid certificate – preferred.
• Safeguarding and Child Protection training – required (or willingness to complete prior to or shortly after starting).
• Additional professional development in leadership, management, or early years pedagogy – desirable.

If you are a motivated early years professional ready to lead a room and drive high-quality practice, we’d like to hear from you. Apply now to take the next step in your early years leadership career.