Job Description

Early Years Practitioner (Level 3)

Location: Norwich

Salary: £26,949.50 per annum

Contract/Hours: Permanent/Full Time – 40 hours per week.

Closing date: Midnight on the 2nd of June 2026

Benefits:  

• Time off to recharge – 25 days per annum plus bank holidays
• Treat yourself: Staff discounts portal and blue light card with 15,000 + retailers.
• Salary Finance – access to financial advice and the ability to manage savings or loans directly from your salary.
• Childcare Discount – A whopping 60% off childcare within our nurseries and out of school clubs
• Up to 3 Days Dependency Leave – to care for dependents in an emergency.
• Paid maternity, adoption, and paternity leave.
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities.  
• Secure your future: Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover.  

About the role:

We have a lovely opportunity for a qualified Level 3 early years practitioner to join our setting.You’ll play a key part in providing high quality care and education for children aged 0-5 years, helping them build confidence, social skills and a love for learning.

You’ll work closely with our team to ensure our indoor and outdoor spaces are always engaging, safe and stimulating - making the most of our new facilities and sensory resources.You'll support children's daily routines, help manage transitions, and build strong, trusting partnerships with families.

Your calm, caring nature and dedication will ensure every child feels valued and supported to reach their full potential.

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 (NNEB, CACHE, NVQ Level 2 or 3 or equivalent)
• Experience in planning and delivering educational programmes for children aged 0 to 5, tailored to their individual needs and developmental stages.
• The ability to observe, guidance support less experienced colleagues, helping them to develop their skills.
• Experience applying effective communication techniques with children and their families.
• Knowledge of children's emotional, physical, psychological, and educational development from 0-5 years
• Awareness and understanding of special educational needs (SEN) and how these are supported in an early year setting.

About Spring Thorp Hamlet:

Spring Thorp Hamlet is a warm, welcoming setting in Norwich, rated Good by Ofsted.With the care for children aged 3 months to five years, with three bright, dedicated playrooms and a large, secure garden for free flow outdoor play every day.We follow the curiosity approach and offer forest school sessions, encouraging independence, exploration and a love of nature.

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.

Ready to make a difference in the lives of children? Whether you're looking for a career change or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you!  

Contact: If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Team at RecruitmentService@actionforchildren.org.uk quoting reference 13145

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 JD and Person Specification 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.

If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Partner

We'll be happy to give you any support you require.

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