Senior Early Years Practitioner
Location: Norwich, Norfolk
Salary: Up to £27,220 per annum
Contract/Hours: Permanent/Full Time – 40 hours per week
Closing date: Midnight on the 19th of November 2025
Benefits:
* 25 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays
* 60% discount on childcare within our nurseries and clubs
* Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities for free
* Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages
* Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover
* Staff discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers' discounts
* Free parking
We're thrilled that you're considering a career with Spring. Spare us five minutes, and we'll tell you what you need to know…
About Spring
Spring offers award-winning childcare services, as part of the national charity Action for Children. It's our mission to be the best provider of outstanding quality early education to children throughout the UK, that is accessible to all. We are focused on enabling young people to learn, have fun and make friends in our bright, engaging settings. That starts with creating a happy environment for our team. Join us and you can look forward to:
* A kind, caring culture with an emphasis on wellbeing, both physical and mental.
* Flexible working – wherever possible we offer flexibility on hours and/or hybrid working.
* Lots of opportunities for training, learning, development, including gaining qualifications.
* Excellent benefits that compare favourably to other employers in our sector.
A bit about the role
At Spring Milecross we're passionate about giving every child the very best start in life. Our nursery care for children aged 3 months to five years, and we take pride in adapting and growing to meet each child's individual needs. Our approach is rooted in curiosity, creativity, and care, creating a nurturing environment where every child feels valued, supported, and inspired to learn.
Our curriculum is designed to foster independence and confidence, encouraging children to become leaders of their own learning. We're especially proud of our dedication to supporting children with special educational needs, ensuring that they are fully included and supported in all aspects of nursery life. Whether through our carefully planned activities, our cosy reading room that inspires a lifelong love of stories, or the small daily moments we celebrate together, every achievement matters at Spring Milecross.
About the Role
We're looking for a Senior Early Years Practitioner to bring experience, leadership, and passion to our team. As senior you'll play a key role in shaping the day-to-day running of the nursery, supporting and mentoring practitioners, and ensuring our environment remains a place where every child can thrive.
You'll take the lead in creating inclusive, engaging learning opportunities that spark curiosity and build confidence. Working closely with the Nursery Manager and your team, you'll model best practise, champion high standards of care and education, and help nurture a culture where children feel safe, respected, and encouraged to explore.
This role is perfect for someone who's ready to take the next step in their early years career, a confident, reflective practitioner who can bring fresh ideas, positivity and a supportive spirit to our wonderful team.
What we are looking for:
A qualified Senior practitioner who shares our values and ethos in:
* Engaging children following their developmental needs and interests following the EYFS, British values and enhancing cultural capital.
* Building partnerships with parents / carers, families and professionals involved with the children to achieve the best possible outcome for each child.
* Being a keyperson, supporting children's individual needs, keeping accurate records and regularly communicating with parents / carers.
* Supporting with love and nurture, making every single day count for the children, making everlasting memories.
What we need from you
In the role of Early Years Practitioner (Level 3), we're ideally looking for someone who has:
* A Level 3 Early Years and Childcare qualification e.g. NNEB, CACHE, NVQ Level 3 in Childcare and Education or equivalent which is essential for the role.
* A passion to learn and develop whether you are newly qualified or an experienced practitioner.
* Full understanding of children's emotional, physical, psychological and educational developmental needs from 0 to 5 years.
* A positive attitude and a great team player to uphold a high-quality learning environment.
Whether this is a career change for you or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you.
We work together to reach our mission to give children the best start in life.
Good luck We can't wait to hear from you.
Contact: If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Team at quoting reference
We'll be happy to give you any support you require.
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
At Spring Oscars we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under-represented within the organisation. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups.
Male staff are often under-represented within this sector, and we would like to encourage more male applicants for our roles.
We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice.
Don't meet every single requirement?
If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with the job description, we'd love you to apply anyway. You might just be the perfect person for this role, or another role within the Action for Children family.
Application Process
Please note we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.
There are 5 sections for you to complete - Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration – please refer to the Job Description when applying.
We also want to know what unique qualities you can bring to help us reach our vision for children and families.
Talent Pool: We're sure you've got what it takes to join our ambitious team. If you're unsuccessful this time around, we'd like to hold your details in case similar jobs come up that you might be better suited for. But feel free to let us know if you'd rather we didn't do that.
Want to know more about Spring and Oscars?
Check out our socials on Linkedin, Facebook or Youtube.
See below for further information about working with us:
Employee Reward Booklet
Spring Early Years Career Pathway
Job Description