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Job Description

Job Title: Childcare Manager (Maternity Cover)

Location: YMCA City Tots Day Nursery - Wolverhampton

Responsible to: Executive Head of Enterprise Services

Working Hours: 40 hours per week/ pro rata, with some flexibility required to ensure regular working across all days and session times. 12 month maternity cover commencing October 2017.

Annual Leave: 224 hours inclusive of Bank Holidays.

Background: YMCA Black Country Group (YMCA BCG) is the branch of the YMCA global movement in the Black Country. YMCA BCG operates charitable companies & associated trading subsidiaries in the Black Country boroughs and South Staffordshire area. The combined turnover of the group is in excess of £6M, delivering a wide range of community services including supported housing, youth work, childcare and family support, drug and alcohol counselling, skills and employment training, health and well-being services. YMCA BCG employs over 250 staff and also works with around 50 volunteers and voluntary trustees.

Remuneration: Salary between £24,000 to £25,000 dependant on experience - plus benefits (pension, simply health, subsidised gym membership)-Plus attractive contract completion bonus.

Job Role: To manage and be accountable for the YMCA City Tots childcare service in Wolverhampton, currently registered for 53 nursery places. To ensure that the setting provides a safe, caring and stimulating environment for all registered children aged 6 weeks to 5 years. To ensure that implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework is achieved and implemented within the setting. To lead and nurture staff in achieving excellence. To maximise occupancy levels and manage income and expenditure within agreed budgets.

Main Duties:

Operations

1.  To ensure all children and their parents/carers that attend the Nursery are enthusiastically greeted/welcomed by name on their arrival, and are actively valued and included for the full duration of each session. To both role model and communicate it is a vocation to provide child care.

2.  To be a key holder for the Temple Street Building, ensuring that alarms are deactivated and premises are safe and health and safety checks completed.

3.  To ensure that the Nursery is adequately staffed at all times, ensuring statutory child/worker ratios are consistently adhered to and that staff are effectively deployed. This will include the production of staff rotas and room plans.

4.  To establish and implement procedures to ensure that the childcare building is safe at all times, ensuring that all activities are timetabled, that access is properly controlled and that all necessary risk assessments are completed.

5.  To ensure all trips are operated safely and securely at all times, with due regard for example to registration of children, child/staff ratios, and health and safety.

6.  Ensure that all food and drink given to the children meets their individual dietary/faith requirements and comes only from the childcare kitchen or another approved source. Ensure that high standards of food hygiene and safety are maintained at all times by all staff when serving food to children.

7.  To ensure basic Paediatric First Aid is available at all times by appropriately trained and qualified staff and, if used, incidents are appropriately recorded in the Accidents Book, parent/carers(s) are informed, and monitoring information submitted for the Association’s Health & Safety Committee.

8.  To ensure the Nursery operates at all times within and follows the Association’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Ensure that all staff and others working in the nursery have the minimum necessary safeguarding training.

9.  With support from the Environment, Health & Safety Manager, to ensure the Nursery operates at all times within and follows agreed Health and Safety procedures, including effective risk assessment, in accordance with the Association’s Health & Safety Policy, and to act as the settings Responsible Person.

10.  To ensure the nursery and all play areas, equipment and resources are safe to use, cleaned and prepared daily before the children arrive, and maintained in accordance with manufacturers’ guidelines.

Quality, performance and education

11.  To ensure that the Nursery provides a balanced range of age-appropriate curriculum and activities that, in as far as possible, meets the needs of each individual child as outlined in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

12.  To ensure that each child in the nursery is provided with a Key Worker with particular responsibility for their care, assessment/observation, information-gathering, and pastoral support, and to ensure such Key Workers are sufficiently directed, trained, and resourced to effective carry out such duties.

13.  To ensure the Nursery is fully compliant with Ofsted requirements, ensuring that that the Self Evaluation Framework is regularly updated and that reports resulting from inspection visits are acted upon.

14.  To establish and maintain strong working relationships with the parents/carers of service users, ensuring effective two-way communication through the use of social media, newsletters, open events, parent’s evenings, etc.

15.  To promote positive attitudes and behaviours from all children, encouraging a culture that praises the positive and challenges the negative. Ensure all staff work within the guidelines of the Behavioural Policy.

16.  To encourage respect for the religious and cultural beliefs of others with a specific focus on Christian festivals, beliefs, values and practises, supporting the YMCA BC Chaplain to engage in the services delivered.

People management and development

17.  With the support of the Association’s HR Officer and Executive Head of Enterprise Services, to recruit, induct, manage and develop staff as required.

18.  To line manage, observe, develop and, in their absence, operationally cover for, the Deputy Nursery Manager and other senior staff, enabling them to effectively manage the staff team.

19.  To work with the Executive Head of Enterprise Services to ensure all staff are adequately trained and developed, co-ordinating a programme of regular team meetings and training sessions, as well as access to external training and professional development opportunities.

20.  Deliver training where necessary, some of which will take place outside of normal working hours.

Finance and administration

21.  To ensure relevant and accurate information is obtained, regularly updated and securely stored, about each and every child/service user.

22.  With support from the Association’s Head of Corporate Services, to manage income and expenditure within agreed budgets, and be responsible for nursery purchases within agreed budgets.

23.  With support from the Association’s Head of Corporate Services, to ensure agreed systems for the notification and collection of fees from individuals and third parties are maintained at all times, that agreed procedures for the handling of cash are strictly adhered to, and that accurate and detailed records are kept, with monitoring information provided to the Finance Department on time as requested. This will also involve the active chasing of any non-payments/arrears.

24.  To manage employment housekeeping, such as signing off time monthly time sheets, Annual Leave/ TOIL requests, and, with support from the HR Department, manage day to day employment issues.

Business development

25.  To develop and deliver strategies that will achieve agreed occupancy rates.

26.  To work with the Executive Head of Enterprise Services to raise the profile of the Association’s childcare services through a variety of media, ensuring potential customers/service users are provided with accurate, relevant, and compelling marketing information.

27.  To work with the Executive Head of Enterprise Services to identify and secure required external funding, ensuring funders are provided with accurate, relevant, timely, and compelling information/ monitoring data.

28.  To provide prospective customers with appropriate, prompt and compelling information that enables them to make informed decisions about their use of the Nursery, and to enable them to conduct exploratory/initial visits.

Policy and procedure

29.  To work within the terms of YMCA BCG guidelines, policies and procedures at all times.

30.  The post holder must at all times carry out their responsibilities with due regard to the YMCA’s Equal Opportunities & Diversity Policy

General

31.  Promote the work and mission of the YMCA movement in general, including supporting the articulation of the Christian ethos of the organisation to staff and customers alike.

32.  Must attend occasional meetings in outside normal working hours.

33.  Must be willing to work flexibly including at different nursery settings where needed, in the event of sickness and/or holiday.

35. Respect prayer and devotional times that may take place from time to time in YMCA gatherings and related activities.

Person Specification

Childcare Manager

Experience

Qualifications

Childcare & Education (Level 3) qualification

Maths and English to GCSE level or equivalent

Skills

General