Senior Childcare Worker

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About the role

We're looking for enthusiastic, friendly colleagues for our nursery setting in Blandford. You'll find a warm welcome from our dedicated colleagues and wonderful children where you'll play a crucial role to support children's play and learning through engaging activities, fostering positive relationships, and ensuring their well-being.

We are an Ofsted rated 'good' vibrant and nurturing childcare provision committed to providing high-quality care and education for children aged 3 months to 5 years. Our team is passionate about creating a stimulating and safe environment where children can learn, play and grow.

Working as a Senior Childcare Worker leading on the provision of a safe and stimulating environment focused on learning through play, providing activities and quality childcare for children aged 3 months to 5 years. You will support others to help our children socialise and foster their dreams for the future, realising their potential, working closely with Archbishop Wake C of E Primary School which is situated next door.

We are looking for someone with a Level 3 relevant childcare qualification. If you have Safeguarding, Paediatric First Aid, Childcare or Food Hygiene qualifications that would also be an advantage.

This role will provide you with many opportunities to learn new skills, solve problems and adapt to different situations. You will be required to deputise for the Manager on occasions. Every day is different and exciting with the added benefit of supporting others to be creative, messy and encourage children to explore the world through play.

Primarily you will be working in the preschool age provision seeing children grow, develop and learn and working alongside another Senior Childcare Worker to plan around children's unique needs. You can make a real difference in their lives by providing them with a safe, supportive, and fun learning environment where they are eager to 'have a go' and try new things. Occasionally, you may be asked to support the Oscars After School Club, the after school and holiday provision.

You will also be working with a team of other professionals who share your passion and vision for childcare and will lead the other practitioners in providing children with the best start in life. As an employee of Dorset Council you will have access to a range of employee benefits including a generous annual leave entitlement and a pension scheme.

• you will be leading on the delivery of engaging activities, supporting children and their families to learn through play
• you will be involved in preparing the environment, assessing risk, and making changes to meet the needs of the children present
• you will greet parents, carers and their children when they arrive and leave sharing exciting news about their child's day
• you'll be involved in designing the content of menus for healthy snacks and refreshments as well as taking part in adult led activities (e.g. sport, arts and crafts and cookery) setting up and supporting the children to develop their own ideas

Further Information

Applicants should be competent at providing support and challenge to others, be patient, love working with children, enthusiastic, self-motivated, and able to use their initiative.

We use technology to communicate with each other and our families and you will be confident in using a computer. Support will be available on specific programmes we use.

You will be well organised needing to record observations, sharing information with parents and carers to support learning at home.

You will require a driving license and have access to a vehicle.

We are a large team of 12 practitioners working across 2 rooms. Although staff are in their own set rooms, we are a friendly group of people and everyone is happy to help out where possible. We have a setting SENCO who you would work closely with to support any children with additional needs.

We pride ourselves on our behaviours and values of respect, responsibility, recognition, and we are OneTeam and love to work together.

If you would like an informal conversation, please contact Lauren Root, Childcare Manager on 01258 457856, [email protected] and for further information about our settings: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/children-families/childcare/dorset-coun...

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children, and we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Please be aware this post is subject to a satisfactory DBS disclosure application and other safer recruitment checks including 2 references. See our policy on the employment of ex-offender

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About Us

We're passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.

At Dorset Council we:

• provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents
• have ambitious aspirations
• are excited about our future
• care about Dorset and all the people who live here
• know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success

You will:

• have access to a range of employee benefits
• be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed
• have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression

We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.

We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.

We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours . We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.

If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn .

This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.

We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.

Find out more about how to apply .