Job Description

Join our exceptional team

Seymour House is a family-run day nursery group with 35 years of experience in making a real difference to families, our team, the environment, and the community.

Our success is built on the experience of our team and their dedication to achieving our goals. So, we want to reward our team by creating the best place to work in the early years, where people can grow with us, create a lasting impact, and share in our success. We want our team to feel connected to our purpose, trust they are valued and be able to fulfil their career ambitions.

The Early Years Apprentice role is key in supporting the delivery and inspiring high quality, beyond brilliant early years education, acknowledging every child is unique through our bespoke educational programmes. You will build meaningful relationships with children, parents and colleagues using consistent and effective communication. This role is suitable for someone passionate about Early Years and looking to fulfil their career in a flexible, friendly, and creative environment and complete a Level 3 qualication in Early Years.

Perks of the role

•Competitive salary
•Nursery discount for employees' children
•28 days annual leave including bank holidays
•A friendly, flexible team with social events throughout the year
•Ongoing training opportunities
•Health and wellbeing resources and support
•Free life coaching in the Dream Academy
•Discounted gym membership
•Access to a financial wellbeing service
•Specsavers eyecare vouchers

About the role

The Level 3 Apprenticeship in Early Years offers a fantastic opportunity for those candidates wishing to study and work alongside their education, enabling you to work within one of our Outstanding Ofsted-rated day nursery schoolsacross Essex and Hertfordshire.

Your apprenticeship is delivered by the Seymour House Apprenticeship Academy and is a fully funded 18-month programme, which focuses on different subjects within the Early Years to enable you to build on your Knowledge, skills and behaviours, giving you an all-around understanding of Child Development for children aged 0-7 years.

You will have a designated Assessor/Tutor to guide you through the course and plenty of opportunities to meet and network with a wide range of early years apprentices, and attend face-to-face training days as well as online courses led by enthusiastic, highly experienced tutors and expert practitioners.

This is a flexible and diverse role that covers all aspects of working within an Early Years setting, including;

Delivering Beyond Brilliant Care and Education

•Implementing and promoting the Early Years Foundation Stage through the delivery of our 5C's curriculum, our unique pedagogical approaches and our bespoke educational programmes

•Having high regard for all matters relating to safeguarding children and child protection, keeping up to date with the organisation's safeguarding policies and procedures, and training, and reporting any concerns to the Designated Safeguarding Lead

•Promoting children's sense of belonging supporting diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities for all

•Support the delivery of high-quality teaching and learning tailored to the children's individual needs, with maximum impact on children's outcomes. Ensuring children are provided with every opportunity to meet their full potential through fun and exciting age and stage-appropriate experiences, in line with our policies and procedures, vision and values

•Supporting children to have the best start in life so they live healthy, happy lives by promoting their wellbeing and delivering our fresh, tasty, wholesome meals and food education resources

•Ensuring our inspiring learning environment is effective in delivering our curriculum, that the resources are of high quality, safe and fit for purpose and that home base rooms are clean, tidy and meet professional standards

•Taking responsibility for the health and safety of themselves, and adhering to organisation policies and procedures to ensure children and others are kept safe within the nursery environment

•Managing effective and timely record keeping, including children's developmental records, observations, assessments, accident, first aid and medicine administration records, homebase cleaning logs, etc. Nurturing Partnerships

• Supporting a nurturing environment, demonstrating empathy, warmth and kindness towards others, in line with our team and brand values

• Forming strong bonds with children, tailoring their care to their individual needs and interests as the role of Key Person to a small group of children, once this has been discussed with your nursery management team and agreed the time is right

• Demonstrating effective and consistent communication with colleagues, parents, the training provider and other professionals where relevant, representing the organisation positively

• Building supportive parent partnerships, ensuring effective use of our in-the-moment planning and record keeping so that parents are engaged in their children's learning and promote home learning ideas and experiences

• Providing exceptional handovers at the end of the day to parent/carers so they are informed of their child's enjoyment, educational experiences and care routines for the day

• Leading parent partnership discussions for key children (if you have them) in person or remotely with confidence, sharing expertise, knowledge and details of children's progress and next steps

•Ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction, to maintain an excellent reputation

• Establishing and maintaining professional working relationships with colleagues within the team, working together to nurture each other, our community and the planet, and implementing a safe, clean and tidy environment for all children and colleagues to thrive. Learning and Development

• Being fully committed to complete the apprenticeship programme by making use of the allocated learning time, tapping into the experetise and guidance from your collegues and using practical experience to develop outstanding practice

• Keeping up to date with your apprenticeship coursework to ensure that completion is within the 18 month duration

• Attending training and CPD opportunities that are offered, in and outside of the apprenticeship programme

• Taking responsibility for own CPD and personalised skill development by being reflective and identifying training needs

•Using the Community platform to gain new ideas and knowlegde and share practice and new ideas with others

• Being open to and put forward new ideas and ways of working to positively impact children, parents and team

•Completion of your Paediatric First Aid training by the end of your apprenticeship.

Other Information

This job description is not exhaustive, and the post holder is required to undertake any other reasonable duties as directed by the Nursery Management Team.

We actively promote equal opportunities and are committed to equality and diversity for all our children and team. Applicants will be considered on merit only, irrespective of race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, or belief.
A copy of the Company's Equal Opportunities Policy and Disclosure Information Policy is available on request.

Seymour House is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all team members and volunteers to share this commitment.

This post is classed as having a high degree of contact with children and is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. An enhanced check is completed and regularly updated through the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Requirements
About you

• You must have English GCSE grade C/4 or above and preferably Maths GCSE grade 4/C or above, however this is not essential and can be delivered through a Functional Skills level 2 whilst undertaking the apprenticeship. No other prior learning is essential, you will be required to complete an initial assessment in both Maths and English to assess your suitability for the course prior to starting

• Must be fully committed to engage in the apprenticeship coursework, you will be given 20% off the job learning time but to successfully complete the apprenticeship in the time frame required, this may require you to complete work outside of your normal working hours

• You must be committed to build meaningful relationships with all stakeholders, children, parents and team, and have good communication skills and maintain confidentiality

• A real 'can do' attitude and self-motivation is essential - we need our team to love working together!

• Having a passion for working in an environment with young children is essential

• You must be eligible to work in the UK and have been a UK resident for the last 3 years, you will also need to obtain a satisfactory DBS.

Information about the School

Seymour House was launched in 1988 by our founders, John and Julie.

As working professionals with dreams of starting a family, John and Julie knew just how important it would be to find experienced, nurturing, and dependable childcare.

That’s when this husband and wife team harnessed their imagination and set out to create a nursery school that would give children the very best start in life, for a future filled with possibilities.

John and Julie knew that the secret to their success would be the team that joined them. So, they made it their mission to find the very best people possible to provide beyond brilliant care and education both for the children and their families.

They were so passionate about caring for children and supporting the families in every way they could, that Seymour House became a unique and magical place, unlike any other nursery around.

With more and more families wanting to join, it wasn’t long before Seymour House started to grow. We now have 12 day nurseries across Essex and Hertfordshire, each led by a brilliant team of early years experts.

To this day, Seymour House nurseries have remained a family run group with wholesome values. John and Julie have since taken a step back to enjoy some well-deserved relaxation time, passing the reins to their son, Jonathan, who is now the Managing Director. Their daughter, Victoria, is also part of our team as the Commercial Manager.

Together, we use our experience and creativity to provide a unique early year’s approach, where fresh ideas and forward thinking deliver the best outcomes for the children in our care.

This is demonstrated through our tailor-made 5Cs curriculum, and engaging pedagogical techniques. The creation of Nursery Kitchen also ensures our children receive meals that are consistently healthy, tasty, and safe.