The University of Nottingham

ROLE PROFILE FORM

Please complete this form in accordance with the guidelines in the Guide to Completing the Role Profile Form. The University will observe the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 at all times.

Job Title: Early Years Practitioner

School /Department: Childcare Services, Registrars

Role Holder or Payroll Number: GENERIC

Section 1

The Purpose of your Role:

(A brief description – one or two sentences – to explain why your role exists, what it is there to achieve or deliver, what is the main objective of the role.)

To provide quality care and education to children of staff and students at the University as part of student support services and family friendly employment practices.

Section 2

Main Responsibilities

Please detail the main activities of the role – Need to capture all activities that can be part of the role in different buildings

Main Responsibilities
i.e. What is done.… To what / for whom…. With what outcome, or result.
1. / To keywork a named group of children forming relationships with the children and their parents/carers. Keyworking to include: - undertaking formative developmental assessments, individual planning for each child’s needs, undertaking recorded observations on children to inform planning, providing information (verbally and in writing) for parents on a day to day basis about their child, providing written reports for parent meetings and to liaise with the Senior Practitioner over individual plans for children and their needs. This ensures that Care Standard requirements are met and a service is delivered that is tailored to specific needs of individual children.
2. / To prepare, implement and review activities on a 1-1, small and large group basis for children, providing a stimulating environment for them, meeting care standard requirements, Foundation Stage requirements and enabling children to achieve optimum development in the Birth to matters framework.
3. / To provide for children’s individual care needs including nappy changing, potty training, hand washing, care of skin, hair and clothing, changing children when toilet accidents have occurred, providing assistance with feeding where required and supporting young children in developing their independence and self help skills, administering first aid & medication where required and authorised, assisting children at sleep times and completing all associated records. Thus meeting requirements in the Care Standards, Childcare Services policy & procedures and offering a quality service that ensures young children remain healthy and safe.
4. / To supervise children during play and on outings, facilitating learning, ensuring environment is stimulating and safe, providing assistance as required, extending learning in accordance with the child’s individual needs & supporting children in resolving conflict situations.
5. / To participate in and contribute to own appraisal/ reviews/ supervision/team meetings/staff meetings, on-the-job coaching and internal/external development activities to ensure performance is at required standard and that there is clarity of role and expectations.
6. / To provide in the job support and guidance to students on placement (including Nursery Nursing students, social work students, nursing students) to enable students to achieve outcomes specified for placement and gain an understanding of the needs of young children and way of meeting them.
7. / To carry out administrative and domestic duties associated with the care of children such as laundry (e.g. children’s clothing, bedding, making up of napisan), cleaning of tables before/after activities & meals, sterilising & cleaning of equipment (e.g. feeding equipment for babies, toys, sanitising mattresses and sleep mats), replenishing supplies (e.g. filling up paint tubs, restocking collage materials), completing children’s registers, logging room temperatures, recording child accidents, recording food temperature probing.
8. / To ensure environment is stimulating, safe and hygienic (e.g. doing displays, removing broken items, repairing books, scanning indoor/ outdoor environment for safety hazards, reporting of hazards/repair needs)

Section 3

Knowledge & Skills

Please give details of any specific knowledge, skills or training that are essential in order to carry out your role.

·  Minimum of NVQ3 or equivalent childcare qualification (recognised by DfES)

·  Knowledge of Foundation Stage Curriculum (3-5 yrs) and Birth to Matters (4 mths – 2yr 11 mths)
·  First Aid with Childcare
·  Food Hygiene Certificate
·  Manual lifting and handling
·  COSHH
·  Good knowledge and understanding of child development required
·  Ability to communicate verbally and in writing to GCSE standard
·  Satisfactory Enhanced CRB check, Social Service checks and references (minimum of 2)
·  Practitioners need to be child centred in their approach

Section 4

Decision Making

Are the range of activities specified by the routine or detailed instructions:

Y Other

N

If yes, please move to section 5

If other, please move to section 4a

If no, please provide examples of the sort of day-to-day decisions within your role that are:

i) Taken independently

Adapting activity to individual needs of a child

Feedback provided to parents in home books or on drop off/collection about their child and in parent meetings

Advice to parents on childcare issues (e.g. potty training, feeding, sleep routines, preparing for transition to school, preparing for the arrival of a new sibling, behaviour management techniques)

ii) In collaboration with others

Changes to routine according to specific needs/numbers of children in attendance and factors should as weather conditions affecting aspects of routine such as outdoor play.

Topic plans

Display plans

Timing of lunch breaks

Individual plans for children with additional needs (e.g. speech therapy, physiotherapy) in collaboration with Senior Practitioners and other professionals

iii) Referred to your manager.

Concerns about a child’s development, health or wellbeing

Concerns about a staff member or student performance/health

Complaints (formal and informal)

Identification of health, safety, hygiene hazards

Requests for annual leave, time off in lieu, time out for administration

Section 4a

Please provide details of any occasional decision making that you may have to take. Please include the reason why you would have to make that decision and frequency.

Section 5

Additional Work Elements

Please provide information on the physical effort required in performing the job to the required standard. Please also provide detail of any unfavourable environmental conditions to which you may be exposed.

Section 6

Other Information

Please provide any additional data or detail that you feel we need to know and understand about your role, which has not been described earlier in the form.

Early Years Practitioners spend the majority of their time in direct contact with children and their parents/carers, providing a service that caters for their whole well-being (physical, emotional, cognitive, language, social, moral, religious and cultural). As such the elements of the practitioner role described above are incorporated and run alongside each other. Care and education of children are interdependent. Practitioners have to be able to work as a member of a team, communicating with their colleagues about events and observations during the day, ensuring information is shared as staff work shifts to cover an extended day. Need to show caring skills, a genuine commitment to and love of working with children and demonstrate fun and excitement when engaging with the children. Need to be flexible and able to adapt to different situations.

22/01/09 Operations and Facilities

Role Profile Form 3