Early Years Practitioner (SEND)

Job introduction

Acorn Nursery is one of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Family Hubs. We operate five nurseries across the City and provide high quality care for children aged from 3 months to 5 years. We are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm.

Acorn Nursery is located in Portslade (Mile Oak). We are a purpose built nursery with 3 separate rooms supporting children’s age and developmental stage.

We pride ourselves on plenty of space to play and learn both indoors and outdoor. Each room has its own separate outdoor space with access to the main large garden where children join together to climb and slide, play in the mud kitchen, enjoy the sandpit and tend to our vegetable patches or check that the worms are doing their job in our compost bins . We have a play based approach to learning in a fun, happy and calm atmosphere.

We are proud of our staff team, many who have been at Acorn for over 20 years. The team are qualified to level 3 or above or working towards a higher qualifications. Together the team share the same passion for delivering a high standard of care to the children and provide exciting opportunities for the children to learn, grow and develop into confident young people.

For an informal discussion, please contact Ashley Bricknell, Nursery Manager on 01273 293980

About the role

We are looking for confident and articulate staff who can quickly develop relationships within our nursery teams and with other Early Years services. Working closely with our SENDCO's and Early Years Teachers these roles will be responsible for designing and implementing Individual Education Plans and reporting on children's progress to the team working around the child. The roles include being part of a multi- agency team who ensure these children receive the best nursery experience.

The post will be working 18.5 hours per week. The shift pattern will be arranged with successful candidate with hours working across the week.

You must have a relevant childcare qualification, be able to provide evidence of ongoing training relating to SEND and a sound working knowledge of the SEND code of practice as well as experience of working with children with complex additional needs: including Autism, speech, language and communication delay.

Applicants must have experience of working with young children 3 month to 5 years in an early year’s environment; experience of delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS); experience of meeting the individual needs of young babies and their families; demonstrate a passion and commitment for providing high quality care and learning opportunities.

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate excellent practice, working as part of a team and contributing to our play based learning approach. We work to maintain high standards of early learning, ensuring that activities are developmentally appropriate and are those in which children from a range of social, economic and cultural backgrounds are able to develop and grow.

The role involves being a key person for a group of children; building relationships; being an inspiration to the children; supporting attachment building; ensuring the children feel safe; planning activities; maintaining records; carrying out observations.

We are proud of our staff who are qualified or working towards a qualification, who share our passion for delivering a high standard of care to the children and provide exciting opportunities for the children to grow, learn and develop into confident young people.

Applicants must have:

• experience of working with young children in an early year’s environment
• a fun positive attitude to work
• experience of delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
• passion to learn and develop
• experience of meeting the individual needs of young children and their families
• demonstrate a passion and commitment for providing high quality care and learning opportunities
• a minimum Level 3 qualification in Early years and childcare, or level 2 willing to work towards a level 3.
• excellent communication skills.

The role involves:

• being a key person for a group of children
• building relationships
• being an inspiration to the children
• supporting attachment building
• ensuring the children feel safe
• carrying out observations
• assessing children
• supporting growth and development.

We will provide:

• A setting that is child and family centred, not for a profit.
• Salary above market average starting at £26,409 for a full-time post, This role is Pro rata to 18.5 hours a week, equivalent to £13.69 per hour
• a full induction and training programme
• ongoing support in the form of regular supervisions and appraisals
• the opportunity to work as part of a dedicated team
• 3 in house training days per year, plus other opportunities to attend individual training courses.
• Encouragement and support to further your education through continued professional development.
• 25 days paid holiday every year plus bank holidays, rising to 28 days holiday after five years service.
• Generous pension scheme
• Loans available to support with bus travel or buying a bike and deposits on rental properties, these are paid back over the year straight from your salary.
• Staff discount scheme can be used in local shops/cafes and national stores, includes free rides on the Volks rail, discounted cinema tickets, and discounted gift cards.

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us

Company information

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 How we create a fair and inclusive workplace.

Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.