Pre-School Area Manager

Pre-School Area Manager

Fixed Term, Full Time

£36,375 to £42,794 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Community-based worker

Please note this vacancy is available as a fixed term contract or secondment opportunity for up to 2 years.

Part time applications will be considered.

The Opportunity

Adult Community Learning (ACL) is Essex County Council’s (ECC) provider of lifelong learning experiences for Essex residents. ACL offers Pre-school places to children of learners via multiple pre-schools across North and Mid Essex, as a means of overcoming barriers to adult learning, and to children within its local community. The settings are registered with Ofsted and rated as Good.

This role will ensure the smooth running of the day-to-day business and people management of the settings. They will strive to become a flagship of good practice for the sector. The focus of this role is to ensure a child centred environment with high standards of physical, emotional, social, and intellectual education and care for all children in the settings. The postholder will supervise, support, and lead the professional development of pre-school staff regarding the standards of quality and practices required by EYFS and Ofsted, acting as the Ofsted nominee. They will lead and support the setting managers in having better oversight, direction, and performance any ensures all settings can achieve and exceed their experiential and financial/commercial expectations.

They will be responsible for driving the review of the pre-school business models to implement a sustainable Preschool business for each setting, through both knowledge and understanding of the early years sector and the effective management of finances and staffing ratios in relation to the occupancy levels.

To read more about our business area, please visit: Education

Accountabilities

• Undertake work for the Essex Early Years Strategy and DfE 'Best Start in Life' Essex local plan linked to provision quality as directed by the matrix lead for Early Years' 
• Responsible for undertaking regular visits to the settings to provide leadership, practical advice, support and guidance to the setting managers and teams to ensure the highest quality early years provision is in place.
• Accountable for ensuring the development, implementation and maintaining a financially sustainable business model that meets both the Ofsted regulatory requirements and ECC financial requirements and vision.
• Accountable for overseeing and ensuring the management quality and performance of operational aspects of the settings, including, health and safety, safeguarding, setting management, administration, CPD and Training. Overall accountability for overseeing the quality, monitoring, assessment, and development of the settings.
• To support setting managers, establish, develop and maintain highly professional working relationships with relevant Local Authority Departments, regulatory bodies and other agencies, for example Health Visitors and Special Education Needs (SEN) services and schools to develop high quality service delivery.
• Engage in proactive efforts to enhance teamwork and cultivation of an environment of transparent and open communication across the settings and across the broader Essex County Council, to enable a consistent and viable business and operational model.
• Accountable for overseeing and leading the quality assurance of the settings so that reflective practice and a self-evaluative culture drives improvement.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Qualified at least to Level 6 in Early Years or related subject, with experience working at Nursery Manager level or above.
• Extensive knowledge of the Early Years sector, the EYFS framework and experience of delivery of successful outcomes in Ofsted inspections. Show strong understanding and knowledge of relevant Safeguarding and Compliance frameworks.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area
• Sound knowledge and understanding of the factors that lead to improvement in positive outcomes for pre-school aged children.
• The ability to identify priorities and meet outcomes to work effectively at a senior managerial level under a variety of circumstances and develop skill within the role.
• Confident to provide clear financial leadership to the pre-schools.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to produce reports to inform strategic planning.
• Energetic and enthusiastic with a can-do attitude and a real focus on EYFS and customer service.
• Ability to be mobile across North and Mid Essex

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In February 2025, Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government’s devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR) on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

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If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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