Job summary
- Main area
- Early years nurseries
- Grade
- Band 5
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Flexible working
- Compressed hours
- Job ref
- 150-MT1608-CC-C
- Employer
- Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Brighton General Hospital
- Town
- Brighton
- Salary
- £29,970 - £36,483 per annum pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 09/06/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Nursery Manager
Band 5
Job overview
We have an exciting opportunity for someone to manage the daily operations of Hilltop Nursery, located at Brighton General Hospital.
This is a NHS Trust workplace nursery.
This role involves managing a small team, and overseeing compliance with Ofsted and Children’s Act standards and requires solid skills in childcare management and effective communication.
“Please note: Due to recent changes in UK immigration and visa rules, this role is unlikely to be eligible for Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. Applicants who do not currently have the right to work in the UK may not be considered. Candidates requiring sponsorship should review the eligibility criteria on the gov.uk website before applying to assess their eligibility for a Certificate of Sponsorship for this role."
Main duties of the job
- To ensure the nursery maintains high standards of care and Early Years education and coordinates Ofsted inspections, while effectively maintaining good standards in all aspects of childcare and early years education.
- To ensure nurseries are safe, secure, and welcoming for children, parents, carers, and extended family members, and other professionals.
- To ensure direct service delivery.
- To provide leadership that fosters a motivated and committed workforce.
- To provide a high-quality, professional, and sustainable nursery.
- To be expected to escalate issues to the Heads of Trust Nurseries.
- To act as the Designated Safeguarding Lead for the Nursery and assist the other nurseries when their Designated Safeguarding Leads are unavailable.
Working for our organisation
We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays.
Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.
Why work for us?
• Positive 2023 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeing
• Varied environments: community hospitals, patients’ homes, and bases across Sussex
• Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retirement
• Excellent training, development, and research opportunities
• Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brighton
• Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief networks
• Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trust
• Beautiful Sussex location near the South Downs and coast
Our values—Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence—guide everything we do.
We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.
This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
a) To deal with communication across multiple avenues, such as face-to-face, telephone, emails, social media, and nursery management software systems.
b) Ensure regular and effective communication with:
Internal: Trust Heads of Nurseries, Nursery Nurses, Apprentice Nursery Nurses, students, work experience, volunteers.
External: Families, Local Education Authority, Children's Services, Safeguarding Services, Ofsted, support services, Procurement, caterers, trainers.
c) To promote the full involvement and partnership with the parents/carers of the children.
d) To engage with parents from diverse backgrounds and ensure a partnership on all matters.
e) To efficiently manage complaints, collaborating to resolve issues promptly and to escalate to Heads of Nurseries.
f) To communicate and record effectively about incidents, accidents, infection control, safeguarding, finance, and other matters or concerns to Heads of Nurseries.
Main tasks
a) Provide clear leadership to ensure Nursery staff meet the children's educational, emotional, and physical needs, maintaining high standards of childcare through example and supervision.
b) To keep abreast of current childcare information and always ensure up to date practice.
c) To optimise nursery place allocation for maximum utilisation and financial viability.
d) To maintain and organise daily adequate staffing levels in accordance with Ofsted, including monitoring staff absences.
e) To cover any childcare duties in the event of staff absence, ensuring that the children are cared for to the highest standard.
Main responsibilities
a) Responsible for the children's daily vegetarian nutrition and dietary needs, coordinating with catering.
b) To lead and manage the nursery team, including staff supervisions, appraisals, while monitoring all staff training.
c) To conduct regular team, individual staff, and parent meetings.
d) Supervise staff to keep children's records current.
e) Collaborate with staff to foster a happy and safe environment that promotes play, creative learning, social skills, and educational activities.
f) Maintain precise records of children, parents, contacts, incidents, medications, finances, and external agencies. This includes all administrative duties, financial, reporting, and nursery documentation.
g) To ensure a safe environment, we conduct risk assessments, audits, infection control, security measures, and adhere to all health and safety standards.
h) Order and maintain adequate supplies for the department's smooth operation and request nursery equipment as needed.
i) Ensure proper maintenance of toys and equipment by keeping inventory records.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- N.N.E.B. / BTEC Diploma in Childcare and Education/ or Level 3 equivalent
- Paediatric First Aid Training
- Health & Hygiene – Basic food handling Certificate
- Safeguarding children – Level 3
Desirable criteria
- Level 5 in childcare
- First Aid at Work training
Experience
Essential criteria
- 2 years’ experience in managing staff in a nursery setting.
- Experience working with children aged 0 to 5 years.
- Able to work in partnership with parents
- 2 years of experience in a Day Nursery setting.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of budgets and accounts.
Skills and knowledge
Essential criteria
- In-depth understanding of Early Years Foundation Stage and OFSTED standards.
- Knowledge of Health and Safety, and Risk Assessments, COSHH
- Knowledge of Equality and Diversity
- Good Knowledge of safeguarding procedures
Other requirements
Essential criteria
- To work shifts as needed.
- Ability to organise team meetings, parent meetings, and information evenings outside nursery hours when necessary.
- Capable of travelling between all three nurseries as required.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Janet Jones
- Job title
- Deputy Head of Trust Nurseries
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01273696011
- Additional information
Please email if you would like to ask any question or visit the nursery.
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