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Nursery manager
Hours
Variable
Starting salary
£20,000 + per year
Nursery managers are in charge of the daily running of a children's nursery. They manage staff and childcare. They are also in charge of education activities. If you enjoy looking after children and want a manager role, this job could be perfect for you.
To become a nursery manager, you will need to be able to work with children and their families to create a positive and caring environment. Your aim will be to give the children who attend the best possible start in life.
You will need to have strong communication skills. You'll need to keep up to date with developments in early years care and education. You’ll also need good organisational and time management skills.
Before you start work as nursery manager, you will usually need a nursery nursing qualification. Or you will need a Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce. You will also need Criminal Records Bureau clearance.
WorkDesc
The work
As a nursery manager, you would provide day care for children aged three months to five years. Your duties would include:
- creating a caring and stimulating environment that promotes learning through play
- running the nursery in line with environmental, health and safety and fire regulations
- supervising activity planning to make sure that children's needs are met
- working closely with parents and giving them a high standard of customer service, including regular parents' evenings
- making sure that equipment, such as furniture and toys, are in good condition and are suitable for children.
Your business responsibilities as a manager would also include:
- hiring staff who are suitable to work with children. This includes applying for Criminal Records Bureau clearance
- training, supporting and leading the nursery team, to achieve and maintain high standards
- carrying out regular staff assessments, being aware of training needs and developing teamwork
- managing a budget and making sure that the nursery is profitable
- arranging marketing and publicity events
- administration tasks, such as providing an area manager with weekly or monthly reports, and maintaining staff and child records.
You would work closely with the owners of the nursery to make sure that the service you run meets Ofsted National Standards for day care providers. Nurseries can be privately owned or belong to local authorities.
HoursDesc
Hours
Your hours of work are likely to include early starts and late finishes to meet the needs of parents.
IncomeDesc
Income
Nursery managers may earn around £35,000 a year.
Deputy nursery managers can earn around £20,000 to £25,000 a year, and nursery room leaders may earn between £14,500 and £18,000 a year.
Figures are intended as a guideline only.
EntryRequirementsDesc
Entry requirements
Before you start work as nursery manager, you will usually need:
- either a nursery nursing qualification, such as a Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (CACHE) Diploma in Child Care and Education, or NVQ level 3 or 4 in Children’s Care, Learning and Development.
- or the Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce.
Please see the nursery nurse job profile for more information.
Plus
- a minimum of two years' experience as a qualified nursery nurse
- evidence of continuing professional development
- between one and two years' experience in a supervisory role.
Please note: The Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce is considered to be the only level 3 qualification appropriate for the sector. It is therefore the only early years qualification that funding is available for.
You will also need Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) clearance. See the following website for details.
You may be able to gain supervisory experience by volunteering to mentor newly qualified nursery nurses or junior staff within your nursery. You could increase your experience by looking for opportunities to supervise the running of a room in the nursery (room leader). Experience as a room leader could help you when looking for deputy manager and nursery manager work.
Some small nurseries may prefer to employ nursery managers who have achieved (or are working towards) Early Years Professional Status (EYPS). This scheme aims to raise the quality of learning, development and care provided in early years settings. More information about EYPS is on the Department for Education website.
TrainingAndDevelopmentDesc
Training and development
Once you are working as a nursery manager, you could take further training and qualifications such as:
- NVQ Level 4 in Children's Care, Learning and Development
- Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (CACHE) Professional Development Qualifications
- Open University Level 4 Certificate in Early Years Practice
- BTEC HNC/HND in subjects such as Advanced Practice in Work with Children and Families
- a degree or foundation degree in, for example, Early Years.
You could also work towards Early Years Professional Status (EYPS). See the Department for Education website for details.
If you are a manager at a SureStart (local authority) children's centre, you could go on to achieve the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL). For more information, see the National College for School Leadership website.
With experience, you could set up your own private nursery or crèche. Contact Ofsted and the National Day Nursery Association (NDNA) for further advice.
You could also progress to area manager, overseeing the work of a number of nurseries, or become an NVQ assessor in childcare.
SkillsAndKnowledgeDesc
Skills and knowledge
To become a nursery manager, you will need to have:
- a commitment to keeping up to date with developments in early years care and education
- an understanding of the Children’s Act, health and safety issues, and Ofsted National Standards for day care providers
- strong written and spoken communication skills
- excellent time management and organisational skills
- the ability to meet deadlines and targets
- an understanding of child protection issues and confidentiality
- leadership skills and the ability to support, develop and motivate staff
- the ability to work with young children and their families in sensitive, positive and non-judgemental ways
- business skills and the ability to manage a budget
- an understanding of equal opportunities
- knowledge of how children learn and develop
- the ability to build good working relationships with relevant agencies, schools and early years practitioners.
MoreInformationDesc
More information
Ofsted 
(Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills)
Royal Exchange Buildings
St Ann's Square
Manchester
M2 7LA
Tel: 0845 640 4045
www.ofsted.gov.uk
Department for Education - Early Learning and Childcare
Castle View House
East Lane
Runcorn
Cheshire
WA7 2GJ
Tel: 0370 000 2288
www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/earlylearningandchildcare
National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA)
Head Office
National Early Years Enterprise Centre
Longbow Close
Huddersfield
West Yorkshire
HD2 1GQ
Tel: 01484 40 70 70
www.ndna.org.uk
Pre-school Learning Alliance National Centre
The Fitzpatrick Building
188 York Way
London
N7 9AD
Tel: 020 7697 2500
www.pre-school.org.uk
OpportunitiesDesc
Opportunities
The Government is committed to ensuring that an Early Years Professional (EYP) is employed at every children's centre and day care setting in line with new quality standards for early years provision. This means an increase in job opportunities for those with EYP status (EYPS). More information on EYPS is on the Department for Education website.
Jobs are advertised in the national and local press, through specialist agencies, and on websites such as Nursery World, Local Government Jobs and Children and Young People Now. You could also contact your local authority's Early Years Development and Childcare Recruitment Team directly to enquire about vacancies.
You may find the following links useful for vacancies, contact details and general reading (links open in new window):
With a qualification such as a Level 3 Diploma in Children's Care, Learning and Development you could go on to train in areas such as children's nursing, teaching or social work. See the job profiles on this website for details.
Job profiles are based on the latest information supplied to us by industry bodies, such as Sector Skills Councils. Please be aware that with the introduction of the Qualifications and Credit Framework there has been, and will continue to be, changes to vocational qualifications. For more information, please check with industry bodies directly.
We do not accept responsibility for the content of external sites.
LMIData
Related industry information
Industry summary
Early years, children and young people’s services are represented by the Skills for Care and Development Sector Skills Council. This includes those working in early years, children and young people’s services, and those working in social work and social care for children and adults in the UK. The social care sector comprises two sub-sectors:
- Adult social care – with a workforce of nearly 1.5 million, accounting for 5% of England’s workforce, and 38,000 employers
- Children and young people – with an estimated workforce of 2.7 million
Early years, children and young people’s services provide publicly funded services accessed by between 1.5 and 2.5 million families per year, including early years education, childcare, children’s social care, family support, child protection, fostering and adoption services. There are more than 500,000 workers delivering these services in England.
[N.B. Following the change of Government on 11th May, all statutory guidance and legislation referred to here continues to reflect the current legal position unless indicated otherwise, but this document may not reflect Government policy.]
Key facts:
- The children and young people’s social care workforce includes:
- Over a quarter of a million people working within early years and childcare settings, with 165,200 employed in full day care and 58,300 workers in sessional day care
- An estimated 111,484 nannies
- An estimated 1,152 portage workers in England (who provide a home-visiting service for pre-school children who have developmental or learning difficulties, physical disabilities or other special needs)
- About 1,985 in the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS)
- An estimated 7,500 residential childcare workers in children’s homes and 2,100 in care homes for disabled children
- 25,460 full-time equivalent social workers
- Approximately 37,000 foster families in England
- Approximately 14,000 learning mentors
- 2,247 educational psychologists
- Between 3,000 and 5,000 education welfare officers in England
- 65% of full day care provision is privately run, with 22% of settings run by a voluntary organisation.
- The majority of sessional care settings are run by voluntary organisations or are privately run.
The children and young people’s workforce includes a wide range of workers, jobs and professional occupations, including:
- Early years and childcare – Early years/nursery teachers; Nursery nurses/workers; Portage workers; Nannies; Home Child carers; Heads of children’s centres; Volunteers in childcare settings
- Children and young people’s social care – children and family court advisory and support service officers, foster carers, residential childcare workers, children and family social workers
- Learning, development and support services (LDSS) – learning mentors, educational psychologists, education welfare officers, behaviour and education support teams, family support workers
National and regional data
[N.B. National and regional data are currently unavailable.]
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