The Treehouse Club Forestry Nursery and Out of School Club are unique settings. Offering Nursery, pre-school and out of school club for children aged 6 weeks to 11 years old, we are open from 7am until 7pm and offer our children the wonderful experiences of attending a forestry setting and learning in an outside environment.
We are looking for a qualified, experience setting manager to join our growing management team.
Job description: Setting Manager
Purpose of the job:
You will be assigned as the setting manager, working from the woodland setting with the support of the director and area manager to manage both the pre-school and out of school club.
You will work alongside the management team working from 8.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Thursday and then from 8am until 1pm on Friday.
Main duties and responsibilities will include:
Compliance matters:
- Ensure that the setting achieves the best possible Ofsted outcome through ensuring best practice and statutory requirements are undertaken achieving a minimum of a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating ensuring all paperwork needed for Ofsted is implemented and by:
- Supporting and covering the team including deputising for other team members to ensure the setting is meeting all statutory requirements.
- Maintaining the day to day running of the setting and reporting any aspects of concern to the area manager.
- Ensuring that in the event of senior staff absence you work such hours to make sure that the setting is appropriately staffed and legal requirements covered.
- Ensuring that additional roles and responsibilities, e.g. SENCO, ENCO, Health and Safety Officer, Safeguarding Officer etc, are allocated amongst the management team and suitably qualified staff members and that their roles are being actively carried out to a high standard.
- Ensuring that the Monthly Working Document is completed and pro-active suggestions are made. Review sections completed by the staff to ensure that all areas have been satisfactorily completed
Occupancy:
- Ensure communication with the office to fill all vacant spaces.
Child well-being:
- Act as a keyworker for a number of children.
- Complete any designated responsibilities for SECNO, ENCO assigned to you.
Management of Staff:
- Carry out ‘1 to 1s’ with staff.
- Allocate key children to staff.
- Prepare all planning for the setting, short, medium and long term, and ensure that the staff know what needs to be delivered to the children.
- Observations are undertaken – staff to child, co-worker to co-worker and management team to staff.
- Complete Setting Observations forms.
- Act as a leader and role model for staff, in a supportive manner.
- Day to day discipline of staff liaising with the area manager with serious or persistent breaches of policies and procedures.
- To have a clear understanding of all policies and procedures and to promote and ensure that staff gain the same understanding.
- Ensure adherence to the settings staff handbook including managing the settings disciplinary process as needed.
- Ensure staff training is planned into the working day.
- Ensure the cook undertakes and delivers to their job description
Finance
- Support the area manager in financial expenditure including allocating the budget and collection of fees.
- Ensure any spend is within budget and authorised.
Working with parents
- Create and build strong, loyal relationships with parents including planning parent evenings and PTA.
- To show new potential parents around the setting.
- Dealing with any parent queries.
- Promote a great place to work for staff and for children to attend through
- Encouraging good work ethic in staff and good practise.
- To make sure that the setting has a high level of cleanliness.
- Promote the good name and practises of the Treehouse Club.
- Demonstrate leadership skills and a high level of enthusiasm, loyalty and motivation as such that the setting is seen to be an enjoyable place to work.
- Opening and closing, make sure that the setting is made ready for daily activities and closed securely at end of day.
- To make sure that the club is being cleaned on a continual basis and being made ready for the next session.
- To attend advertising events on a rota basis.
- To fill in all appropriate paperwork including the Monthly Working Document.
- To carry out any other tasks to ensure the smooth running of the setting as advised by the management team
Additionally to undertake such other tasks as are reasonably required to undertake the deputy manager’s role.
Person specification:
The ideal applicant will have the following skills and qualities:
- At least three years of setting management experience at a setting with both a pre-school and an out of school club.
- Strong team managerial skills and a proven track record of team management.
- Experience of running at least a 30 child setting.
- Forestry experience desired but not essential as training will be provided.
How will we evaluate you and your suitability to this role:
- We will be looking for you to demonstrate relevant experience at your interview.
- You will have the suitable skills and qualifications, with at least a level 3 in childcare, but ideally a more senior qualification.
Employment information:
You will be reporting to: The Area Manager and Director
The salary for this role will be: £25,000 – £30,000
The initial length of probation will be: 3 months
Safeguarding statement
The Treehouse Club Forestry Nursery and Out of School Club is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and takes its statutory duties and responsibilities in this context very seriously. We expect everyone working in or on behalf of the setting to share our commitment.
We take pride in ensuring that our robust policies and procedures are reviewed regularly and implemented consistently, by everyone, as we strive to maintain a strong safeguarding working practices and culture. Annual safeguarding training is provided to all staff and is an integral part of the setting’s Continued Professional Development training. All staff, volunteers and main contractors undergo appropriate DBS checks prior to appointment.
Safer recruitment
The Treehouse Club Forestry Nursery and Out of School Club applies safer recruitment policies to ensure that all of our staff are suitable to work with children and young people. We advise you in advance that two people will be involved in your recruitment process. Both people will partake in your interview and each person will individually review all applications and paperwork to ensure that you are suitable for the role.
Part of our safer recruitment procedure includes obtaining references for you. One of these references must be your latest employer. If you are unable to obtain a reference before the interview from your current employer then you must obtain references from the employer before that as well as one other reference.
References from former employers are preferable over any other referee. Please note that we will need to obtain a reference from your latest employer before completing our processes for you to commence working for us.
We are at liberty to advise you that if there are gaps in your employment history or any other information that gives us cause for concern, we will contact your former employers to obtain further information and satisfy any concerns that we have.
Eligibility to work within the UK
We will need to obtain evidence from you to confirm that you are eligible to work within the UK. We confirm that this information, as well as all personal information, will be held in our Staff Central Record.
