Job Title: Inclusion Early Support Lead
Salary: From £DOE
Location: Hybrid / Field based (area specific)
Type of Role: Full Time / Permanent / 37.50
Travel: Travel expected to our offices, HO in Northampton and offices in London / Nursery settings
Working from a home base, regular travel to nurseries in England some travel to nurseries across England and Scotland is a requirement of this role.
Closing Date: 28th February 2026
Purpose of the Role
The Inclusion Early Support Lead (IESL) is a peripatetic role (some home and some field-based working) within the Early Childhood Education Team at Bright Horizons UK and provides hands-on inclusion and pedagogical advice and support for nursery teams to improve the interventions and outcomes for children under 5, who are vulnerable, have Special Educational needs or disabilities or Additional Support for Learning. This includes Speech, Language and Communication (SLCN) needs, English as an additional language (EAL) or children where early intervention is needed to support their emotional wellbeing needs (EWN), by working in partnership with the Head of Inclusion, Heads of Early Childhood, Early Childhood Specialists, Nursery Management teams, SENCOs and nursery practitioners through the provision of high-quality training, advice and support.
The role prioritises the voice of the child through the Children’s Voice Charter, ensuring decisions are informed by children’s lived experiences.
This role involves nursery visits to targeted sites, as directed by the Head of Inclusion, delivering intensive support where it is required. The IESL is required to deliver specialist training and advice around special educational needs and disabilities, The Nurture Model, Thrive and speech, language and communication needs to enable children to receive and nurseries to achieve the highest quality care and education practices. The IESL’s key role is to support vulnerable children and families, including children with SEND/ASL and SLCN and EN secures Bright Horizons as the provider of choice for families and corporate clients.
In addition, the IESL will provide remote support to Nurseries, through the Inclusion Help Desk including general advice and guidance and specific support in relation to Education, Health Care Plans, local authority funding models and other regulatory/legal guidance.
The role works alongside the Head of Inclusion and the wider Early Childhood Team, to drive our support for children with additional needs.
The IESL will also work closely with Early Childhood Specialists to implement both the Early Childhood and Inclusion strategies, identifying the priorities for vulnerable children and children with SEND/ASL and/or SLCN and or EWN including EAL. The IESL will offer advice and support in collaboration with colleagues from Health & Safety, Safeguarding, HR and Operation teams, liaising closely with external partners in Local Authorities and regulatory bodies, as appropriate, to promote high-quality nursery environments and best practice pedagogy.
The IESL understands their responsibility of all elements of Keeping Everyone Safe, including sharing concerns about the suitability of colleagues in accordance with regulatory duty.
The IESL will provide coaching and mentoring to Nursery Management teams, nursery SENCOs and practitioners, including attending meetings (team meetings, review meetings etc).
This post-holder will work closely with the Head of Inclusion to target improvement and deliver training both face-to-face and virtually. The post will provide support to embed The Nurture Model and Inclusion strategy.
The IESL will elevate Bright Horizons’ commitment to emotionally responsive, inclusive early years education through leading the national implementation of the Thrive Approach and Nurture Model frameworks, including the delivery of remote and face to face training, to enhance children’s emotional wellbeing, resilience, and developmental outcomes.
Key Tasks and Responsibilities
1. Embed the Children’s Voice Charter by ensuring children’s views and non-verbal communication inform inclusion strategies and interventions
2. Ensure all inclusion practices comply with EYFS/CI statutory requirements and align with Ofsted EIF expectations, including safeguarding, SEND provision, and cultural capital, including occasional support of nursery teams in evidencing inclusion and SEND impact during Ofsted inspections, including preparation of documentation and case studies
3. Provide in person and remote support and pedagogical advice to nursery managers and teams to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for vulnerable children, children with SEND, children with speech, language and communication needs and families
4. Contribute to policy development and review for inclusion and SEND, ensuring alignment with national legislation and organisational governance
5. Promote HEART culture, values, and behaviours, to drive quality improvement and pedagogical excellence
6. Support the successful implementation of The Nurture Approach, Thrive and the Inclusion strategy in nursery settings.
7. Work with The Head of Inclusion and the ECSs to respond to Inclusion Help Desk enquiries and request by providing virtual support, nursery visits and relevant training to targeted nursey teams.
8. Deliver agreed training and support to promote pedagogical innovations in collaboration with the Head of Inclusion.
9. Always act as the ‘advocate for children’, to ensure a ‘Children First’ approach to children’s physical and emotional wellbeing, including Safeguarding, Child Protection and regulatory compliance, under the direction of the Head of Inclusion, as agreed
10. Provide high quality advice, coaching and mentoring to ECSs, nursery managers and their teams to drive a culture of ongoing improvement and secure high-quality pedagogy.
11. Driving high performance and results to support the Inclusion strategy
12. Ensuring high quality evidence to inform statistical reporting of the impact of the Inclusion strategy, including SLCN and EAL. Use agreed systems and tools to support improvement leading to the highest quality provision and improved inspection ratings in the area
13. Timely delivery of projects/resources
14. To maintain sector-specific knowledge
15. Timely submission of business expenses
16. Personal commitment to deliver the highest levels of professionalism with all stakeholders
17. Delivery of training,
18. In partnership with the ECS, provide enhanced support and modelling of strategies around specific vulnerable children within the nursery, including those with SEND/ASL, SLCN and EAL.
19. Taking responsibility for own personal and professional development, accessing ‘high level’ training and development activities that inform pedagogy based on national and international perspectives of ‘best practice’
Essential Experience
20. Experienced Early Childhood practitioner/advisor with proven, successful supervisory experience within medium/large education providers and/or Local Authorities, or private SEND/inclusion provision with experience of delivering high quality early childhood provision
21. Experience of working with children with SEND/ASL and/or SLCN and/or EWN n early years settings
22. Demonstrable track record of promoting quality improvement through the implementation of successful teaching and learning strategies, and leadership models, in close partnership with operations and nursery management teams
23. Confident decision-maker, with the proven ability to support change and inspire innovation; a sound understanding of pedagogical excellence within a large nursery organisation, with the ability to follow guidelines and providing support to others to achieve success
24. Experience of developing high quality training and development programmes for nursery teams, with a successful track record of innovation and pedagogical excellence.
25. Significant experience (more than 5 years) within the Early Childhood arena, with good understanding of relevant legislative frameworks, safeguarding and child-protection requirements, pedagogical and ‘best practice’
26. Ability to provide accurate reports, to drive improvement. Able to use IT to support all aspects of training, reporting and input of relevant quality monitoring data to drive quality and measure the impact of inclusion initiatives in nurseries
Desired Experience
27. Previous experience of supporting early childhood pedagogy in settings and delivery of training and development activities across a wide geographical area
28. Previous experience of coaching and mentoring others to drive pedagogical/inclusive excellence and compliance
29. Experience of using practitioner networks to promote a shared community of practice that extends over a wide geographical area and contributes effectively to quality improvement in early childhood settings
30. Knowledge and understanding of all regulatory requirements and inspection processes in the UK
Essential Qualifications
31. Broad academic education
32. Minimum level 3 in Early Childhood related subject/Early Childhood Educator qualification in line with DfE Qualifications Framework (Essential)
33. Evidence of continuous professional development and awareness of current SEND and/or ASL
34. national initiatives (Essential)
35. Relevant undergraduate degree in Early Childhood related subject (Desirable)
36. Certificate in Education, Qualified Teacher Status or Adult Education Teaching Certificate (or equivalent) (Desirable)
37. Full, clean driving licence (Essential)
38. Evidence of extensive professional qualifications/training/experience in the following areas:
Personal Attributes
39. Excellent influencer, change-maker and effective communicator (oral and in writing)
40. Highly motivated and driven, achieving positive impact and meeting deadlines
41. Ability to listen, build trust and develop cohesive teams – strong empathy, clear expectations and fair-minded
42. Balances strategic vision with operational delivery
43. High energy and thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with a calm approach and ‘can-do’ attitude
44. Able to use data and numerical detail effectively to inform strategy, measure impact and drive quality
45. Ability to travel within the UK; flexibility to work at home or from a regional office as required, with overnight stays as necessary
We look forward to receiving your application!