in this article, we review the job description of the nursery manager / school principal - what they’re responsible for, what they need to do, when they need to do it, how it needs to be done, what systems they need to use and the KPIs on performance
JOB DESCRIPTION
|
Key Information |
|
|
Post Title |
School Principal |
|
Direct Report |
Area Manager/ Operations Manager & CEO |
|
Works with |
School Business Manager and Central team personnel - Marketing etc |
|
Line Manages |
Nursery Staff |
|
Probation |
6 Months |
|
Holiday |
25 days exclusive of bank holidays (200 hours) |
|
Working Hours |
Target 40 hours but as required to fulfil the obligations of the nursery. NB as Designated Safeguarding lead for the nursery, Nursery managers must be contactable at all times by staff and local safeguarding bodies |
|
Type |
Full time permanent contract |
|
Progression |
Area Manager |
|
Purpose |
To take primary ownership of and responsibility for the execution of our educational and business model at the school in which you are the senior leader, training your staff team to be competent, autonomous leaders in their own right tasked with delivering on the tasks you assign to ensure that your school hits target. You must, above all else, ensure the school operates in line with our policies and procedures, and delivers on the requirements of the EYFS Statutory Framework and all supporting compliance requirements from Ofsted and the Department of Education regarding welfare. |
|
Responsibilities & KPIs |
|||
|
Area |
Target |
Audit Method |
Frequency |
|
Sales |
|
Xero Budget Variance EY Man Occupancy Hubspot Sales report Settling In Calendar Hubspot Sales Activities Report Google Sheets - MIP |
Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly |
|
Marketing |
|
Event Wrap Up Report Eventbrite attendance Google Calendar diary Slack BambooHR |
Monthly Monthly Monthly Weekly Termly |
|
Customer Relations |
|
Hubspot Surveys Hubspot Surveys Hubspot Service Tracker |
Monthly Monthly Monthly |
|
Quality & Compliance |
|
Ofsted Report Ofsted notification Ofsted Comms folder Safeguarding Audit Consultant Inspection Termly inspection Management Meeting Report Policy Reviews |
As & when As & when Termly Monthly Termly Monthly Monthly |
|
Leadership & Management |
|
Workast & Diary target Minutes shared Google Calendar Workast |
Termly Weekly Monthly Monthly |
|
Personal Effectiveness & Internal Comms |
|
Google calendar review Workast Report Workast Review Slack Report |
Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly |
|
HR & Staffing |
|
EY Man deployment Bamboo Hiring EY Man Deployment Bamboo HR Bamboo HR Peer Report Bamboo HR Exit Report Bamboo HR SCR Report Bamboo HR Onboarding Report Bamboo HR Performance Report Training Report Google Calendar |
Monthly Monthly Monthly Termly Termly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly |
|
Finance |
|
Xero Management Accounts |
Monthly |
|
Health & Safety |
|
MIP / Workast tracker MIP / Workast tracker Drive audit Workast / Google calendar Workast / Google calendar |
Termly Monthly Termly Termly |
|
Cultural Fit |
|
Bamboo HR Peer Assessments |
Termly |
|
Areas of Responsibility |
||||
|
Areas |
What to Do (Policy Requirement) |
When |
How (Procedural Guide) |
Systems |
|
Leadership, Management & Quality Control - 20% - See Quality Control Policy - The Nursery Manager is primarily responsible for ensuring the whole nursery is driving towards Outstanding through effective leadership and management of room and nursery wide improvements. See Outstanding Practice as outlined in pages 28-44 of the Ofsted early years inspectors handbook. |
||||
|
Monthly Management Pack |
To collate the monthly management pack report that outlines all key management controls in the school for review / analysis and discussion at the central team meeting |
Monthly |
Pack is to contain: - EY Man occupancy reports to compare previous month against current - EY Man deployment reports on ratio management and recruitment need - Bamboo HR Hiring reports on recruitment candidates - budget variance reports - Management Information Pack updates - BambooHR Training / performance / time off and other HR trackers See Management meeting template for further information |
BambooHR EY Man Xero Hubspot |
|
Nursery Improvement Plan |
To review Room Leaders individual Room Improvement Plans and factor into the wider School IMprovement Plan for submission to the board on monthly basis Every updated SDP needs to be pdf’d and stored on the school’s team drive in a chronological order |
Monthly |
Update School Improvement Plan (Template)on weekly and monthly basis, setting tasks for the team to achieve on on-going basis through team meetings. Photo and share with manager each month |
Google Docs/ Workast |
|
Inspection Test |
Prepare the nursery and team for Ofsted / Inspections from central team through on-going tests of policy knowledge and practice inspections and to maintain an Ofsted inspection folder with all information required in checklist |
Quarterly |
Test staff knowledge through policy matrix test and run through Inspection Checklist in School Improvement Plan to ensure we are always ready |
Google Docs / Workast |
|
Room Audits / Evaluation |
To invest time each week to working with the team within a room to evaluate the practice, knowledge and orderliness of the team |
Weekly Monthly |
Diarise repeatable periods in the nursery operating calendars to and provide updates on Room Evaluation forms (Template) at end of each month |
Workast / Bamboo HR |
|
Team building |
To hold staff meetings once / week to discuss issues arising (children starting / welfare / holidays / deployment / policy) |
Weekly |
Use Room Meeting template to on Bamboo HR to complete and send to manager |
Bamboo HR / Google Docs |
|
Monitoring Standards |
Ensure nursery is clean, organised and presentable at all times with all visual defects addressed and all paperwork adequately and diligently organised and stored. Ensure staff adhere to terms of Code of Conduct, Staff Language Policy; Dress code & safeguarding policies (e.g. on mobile phones) and confidentiality policies with parents. See Monitoring Staff Policy |
Daily |
Managers must undertake site wide walk arounds with the manager checklist form to instruct staff to clean / organise and ensure the site is in line with our H&S Policy Managers should instruct RLs to use probationary tracker templates & peer on peer observations & policy knowledge matrix tests to measure staff. Take photo and share with manager |
Bamboo HR / Workast |
|
Health & Safety - 7.5 % - see General H&S policy. The nursery manager has overall responsibility for health and safety in the setting and so assumes ultimate responsibility for audits, inspections and assessments from internal and external agencies to maintain excellent standards throughout. Managers must be effective in overseeing the management and mitigation of risk and ensure that kitchen / food hygiene and evacuations are well documented for external review |
||||
|
Risk Assessment |
To review and sign off Room Leaders’ daily room risk assessments and maintain accurate records of risks identified and mitigated. Oversee general risk assessment of whole setting See R/A policy |Safety Checks policy |
Daily Monthly |
Review completed Daily Risk assessments submitted on Workast and sign off. Undertake overall Risk assessment on Workast and advise board of risks requiring intervention. |
Workast / Slack |
|
Food Hygiene |
Ensuring Room Leader and Kitchen staff deliver to food hygiene standards and our policies - Food Hygiene & Healthy Workplace policies |
Daily |
Check chef and Room Leader lunch-time Workast compliance submissions and sign off |
Workast / Log File |
|
Fire Evacuation |
To have lead responsibility in organising and coordinating weekly fire drills to ensure procedures are met and recording outcomes to improve delivery. See fire policy |
Weekly |
Undertake overall headcount and record on digital Workast logs for future improvements - liaise with RLs via walkie talkie |
Workast / Log File |
|
Cleaning |
To ensure Room Leaders are maintaining an equitable cleaning rota between the staff and that our cleaning procedures are met. Oversee cleaning staff to ensure that linen and floors and toys are kept clean oin line with Covid procedures / infection control |
Daily Weekly End of Day Daily / Weekly |
Review shut down procedure check lists by room leaders on Workast and sign off Ensure recycled waste is separated in line with policy To keep adequate logs of cleaning activity and photography / send to Business manager |
Workast / Log File |
|
Medication |
To oversee Room Leader checks on medication cabinets and ensure that they are adequately stocked each month, with medication expiry checked on an on-going basis |
Monthly |
Review monthly health & Safety check logs by Room Leader and sign off - logs need to be photographed and shared with School Business manager for maintenance in logs |
Workast |
|
Security |
Ensuring that the Visitor Management Policy and security policies of the setting are delivered on an on-going basis To monitor the video feed logins from Ring video cameras for safeguarding puproses |
Daily |
Review visitor and staff sign in logs via Sign-In App and check for emergency procedures |
Sign-In App |
|
Administration |
Ensure that the School Business manager receives any / all H&S related issues via slack to update the spreadsheets /log and ensure that you’re reviewing the logs to mitigate risks identified |
On-going |
Use digital logs (Workast) as much as possible but maintain strategic controls / overview of H&S |
Workast / Google sheets |
|
Child Welfare / Safeguarding / Protection -7.5% - see Safeguarding Policy. Room Leaders hold overall responsibility for ensuring the safety for the children in their room including the safeguarding duty of care we have. They can depute below actions to subordinate staff but must sign off on logs and checks to ensure that activities are happening in line with policy |
||||
|
Safeguarding |
To assume overall responsibility for all child protection and safeguarding measures within the school, liaising with board directors directly on any grounds for concern via safeguarding@hatching-dragons.com Also to liaise directly with external agencies (see safeguarding policy, safer recruitment) |
Daily |
Review nappy change records for each child (EY Man) Update cleaning log by nappy change station ad share with manager via Google Photo Review sleeping logs for each child (EY Man) and inspect sleeping area during Risk Assessment |
EY Log |
|
DSL (Designated Safeguarding Lead) |
To deal with all safeguarding issues in the absence of the nursery manager. To ensure you are aware of the local authority referral procedure and the early intervention process Are committed to inter-agency working and understand the different roles and responsibilities of other organisations. To ensure you understand the nursery safeguarding and child protection policy. |
-Work with the staff team to provide advice and support on safeguarding concerns/child protection policies -Liaise and refer cases to the local authority and third party organisations. - Keep a detailed accurate written records of any concerns or referrals - Refer cases where a person is dismissed due to risk/harm to disclosure barring service - Monitor children who are on a child protection plan |
||
|
Accidents |
To ensure that the Accident & Injury policy is met by signing off all accidents submitted by floor staff. |
Ad Hoc |
Review draft accident forms on EY Log and submit to parents for review. |
EY Man |
|
Incidents |
To oversee and sign off all incidents (including behavior) are logged and managed consistent with Behaviour Management , Biting and Incident policies |
Ad Hoc |
Update Behaviour Management log and Child incident log template, Share with manager |
Workast / Log file |
|
Medication |
To ensure child medication as administered in line with medication policy |
Ad Hoc |
Update administering medication log, ensure parents sign take photo and share with manager |
Workast / Log File |
|
Outings |
To ensure that the outings policy is met and that during outings all aspects of health & safety are considered |
Ad Hoc |
- Undertake Outings R/A for each outing and ensure that staff team are trained prior to outing |
Workast / Log File |
|
Administration |
To ensure that all child protection records are clearly organised and available to external agencies |
On-going |
Use Workast logs and your own print outs in the ofsted folder for any issues arising |
Workast / Google Sheets |
|
Child Management - 2.5% - See Supervision policy for more information. |
||||
|
Settling In |
To ensure settling in policy is met and all new starters, including parents, receive a full and comprehensive introduction to the school, the team and our policies |
Ad Hoc |
Book settling in post contract with parent and room leader and introduce parent to setting |
Workast / Log File / Google Calendar |
|
Transitions |
To ensure that the transition policy is met and all new transitioning children are given the same process as with a settle |
Ad Hoc |
Book new transition on google calendar to arrange transition conferences |
Workast / Log File / Google Calendar |
|
Staff Management - 25% - See Monitoring Staff Behaviour | |
||||
|
Safer Recruitment |
To alert Central to all new forecasted requirements and to undertake all interviews when booked by central |
Ad Hoc |
To use interview templates to ensure GAPs in employment are assessed and to sign / date completion // feedback to Central on next steps |
Bamboo HR / Adobe Design |
|
Inductions |
To induct new starters and agency staff into nursery. See induction policy and sample induction checklist |
Ad Hoc |
To run through induction checklist on Bamboo HR and secure commentary / feedback before handing over to RL |
BambooHR / Google Calendar / Workast |
|
Deployment |
To work with School Business manager to develop deployment on the school management system in line with compliance and our business model being aware of occasions where Single Worker is possible |
Daily |
Work with business manager to maintain deployment model for nursery at all times unless advised by central team. Note that deployment may be planned on a google sheet, but must be inputted to the school management system for forecasting / staff communications |
Deputy / BambooHR / Walkie Talkie / Slack |
|
Key Worker |
To oversee the RLs implementation of key worker policy, ensuring that children have both Chinese and non-Chinese staff assigned. See policy |
Ad Hoc |
Ensure that Room Boards have clear KW system demonstrating adherence to our policy |
EY Man / Log |
|
Attendance, Sickness and Holiday |
To review holiday requests, sickness and attendance for payroll see policy |
monthly |
RL’s to use Slack on tablets to notify manager of any on-going issue via Direct Message |
BambooHR / Deputy / Slack |
|
Payroll |
To review and deduct payroll elements in line with policy (sickness etc) and note for appraisal / supervision |
Monthly |
Work with business manager to process payroll based on contracted hours vs delivered |
Bamboo HR / Deputy / Sign-In |
|
Probationary Assessments |
To ensure RLs deliver probationary assessments of new starters in line with policy and review recommendations See Probation policy |
Ad hoc / monthly |
Review peer observations / reviews submitted on Bamboo HR |
BambooHR |
|
Supervision & CPD |
To provide the whole staff team with formal supervisions every 3 months to set SMART objectives. See policy |
Termly |
Use Bamboo HR Pre-built signature forms for staff to complete |
Bamboo HR / Google Calendar |
|
Grievance & Disciplinary |
To oversee all grievance and disciplinary proceedings within the setting in line with policy and with the Business Manager |
Ad hoc |
To undertake proceedings with Business Manager, minute all discussions and have signed by couterparty and uploaded to Bamboo |
Bamboo HR |
|
Training |
To provide staff with on site training, evaluation and opportunities to further their CPD through online / offline training provided by third party suppliers |
Termly |
Review supervision / assessments to identify areas and apply staffer for training required to be inline with our training policy |
BambooHR / Google Calendar |
|
Learning & Development - 15% - See Bilingual Policy, Pedagogy Statement and our Approach to Learning and Development / Annual Planning Cycle. Nursery managers assume full responsibility for ensuring that the learning and development provided within the setting is in line with our approach and of an Outstanding quality. Work with ROom Leaders on an on-going basis to train excellence and delivery on formative and summative assessments |
||||
|
Bilingual Model / Educational Approach - Outputs |
Working with Room Leaders to ensure that our bilingual policy and Our Approach to Education to is delivered through reviews of planning |
Twice / Month |
Sit with Room Leaders during non-Contact time to review bi-monthly scheduled planning (see here for Dragon Flight / Blue Dragons / Baby Dragons and Hatchlings templates for the City, approve and then ensure copied to Google Calendar |
Workast / EY Log |
|
Baseline / Formative & Summative Assessment |
Review Room Leaders outputs on formative assessment for their children - one observation / child / week |
Monthly |
Undertake spot checks on quality of observations and sanity check development of child against observations for RL feedback |
EY Log EY Log |
|
Cultural / Values Programme |
Being lead proponent of planning the community events and monthly festivals that are the mainstay of our educational provision Ensure that annual planning (graphic) is being delivered in terms of values |
Weekly |
Assign staff non-contact time to undertake their planning and review in line with policies Submit weekly planning schedules to manager for review Oversee development of one activity plan / week |
Google Calendar Editable PDF |
|
Materials |
Undertake bi-monthly procurement runs in line with planning |
Twice / month |
Submit procurement requests based on planning to manager via email |
|
|
Parents Relationships / External Communications 15% - See Parent Communications Policy; Complaints Policy; Late Arrival / collection Policy |
||||
|
Newsletters |
Ensuring that parents receive both digital daily diaries (RL responsibility) and weekly newsletter outlining forward issues Provide parents with more comprehensive monthly newsletter on new month’s educational planning and school development plan |
Weekly Monthly |
Liaise with RLs and forward content to digital manager on slack |
Slack / Mailchimp |
|
PTA |
To hold regular termly PTA to garner feedback from parent representatives either individually or colelctively |
Termly |
Institute a you said we did board and provide feedback on monthly newsletter on progress against milestones set |
Mailchimp / EY Log |
|
Complaints / Compliments |
To manage all compliments and complaints for the setting |
Ad hoc |
Advise parent of Complaints Policy and inform management / central team |
|
|
Sales & marketing - 7.5% - |
||||
|
Enquiries & follow up enquiries |
Managing telephone enquiries and inputting into the Hubspot CRM system. To call up families in pipeline to push to close / update contact logs |
Ad hoc |
Review Hubspot on tablet / laptop and add |
Hubspot |
|
Show Arounds |
To manage show arounds and ensure that attending families sign in to institute automation |
Ad hoc |
Review Show Arounds Calendar and ensure that signed in. |
Google Calendar |
|
Person Specification |
|
|
Qualifications & Certificates |
|
|
Skills: |
|
|
Experience |
|
|
Person Specification |
|