Job Description

Nursery Manager

Location: Taunton

Salary: Up to £38,000 per annum

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

Closing date: Midnight on the 29th of May 2026

Benefits:  

• Time off to recharge – 28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• Treat yourself - Staff discounts portal and blue light card with 15,000 + retailers
• 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 - with excellent training/development opportunities.  
• Salary Finance - access to financial advice and the ability to manage savings or loans directly from your salary.
• Secure your future - Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover.   
• Staff discount portal: and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers’ discounts  
   

We're thrilled that you're considering a career with Spring. Spare us five minutes, and we'll tell you what you need to know…  

About the role

As Nursery Manager at Spring the Hollies, you’ll be the driving force behind the smooth and successful running of the nursery. You’ll lead by example, inspiring your team to deliver the highest standards of care, education, and play for every child.

You will take overall responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the setting ensuring that the nursery runs efficiently, safely, and in line with regulatory and organisational standards. This includes overseeing curriculum delivery, staffing, financial management, and compliance with Ofsted and EYFS requirements.

Your leadership will be central to maintaining a positive, nurturing culture where staff feel valued, supported, and motivated to achieve their best. You'll provide ongoing coaching and professional development for your team, encourage reflective practise and continuous improvement across all areas.

Building strong relationships is a key part of the managerial role whether this is welcoming new families, working closely with parents and carers to support their child's development, or engaging with the external agencies and professionals.

You'll have a keen eye for quality and detail, ensuring that every aspect of the nursery environment from safeguarding and health and safety to learning outcomes and room presentation meets the highest standards.

Some other key responsibilities of your role will be. 

•  Actively engaging in marketing and advertising to develop an excellent reputation for the nursery.  
• Supporting the development of an innovative approach to children's learning and play that is demonstrated by teams working well together within the setting.
• Undertaking the Designated Safeguarding Lead and Registered Manager role in relation to Ofsted registration
• Overseeing the recording and reporting of planning, observation and progression for all children including a full and thorough assessment of the setting against the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.  

Let’s talk about you.

In the role of Nursery Manager, we’re ideally looking for someone who has:

• Minimum level 3 qualification in Childcare or Early Years.
• Leadership and management experience, in a childcare setting.
• Experience of working in a senior role within a nursery setting or centre working with children aged 0 to 5 years and their families.
• Leading a staff team, including supervision, work allocation, assessment or training and professional development.
• Knowledge and  understanding  of the EYFS, Ofsted  requirements  and relevant current  legislation.
• Understanding of child protection processes, safeguarding, and working with vulnerable children.
• Commitment to inclusive and non-discriminatory working practice with children, families, colleagues, and the community.

About the nursery:

The Hollies is a warm, vibrant early year setting offering a high-quality, child centred environment where curiosity, imagination, and learning thrive. We provide rich indoor and outdoor provision with free flow access, supporting all areas of the EYFS and recognising every child is unique.

The Hollies is one of four Spring by Action for Children nurseries in the local Taunton area, offering strong peer support, collaboration and shared expertise across the wider team.

Why Spring Nurseries

Imagine a place where laughter echoes, imaginations run wild, and every day is a new adventure. That's Spring Nursery! We're not just a nursery; we are a family dedicated to creating a joyful and nurturing environment where children thrive. As part of Action for Children, we're on a mission to provide outstanding early education that's accessible to all.

At Spring, we are committed to supporting your career growth! Check out our Spring Career Progression Map attached to this advert, which highlights the options for progression into a specialist role.

Whether this is a career change for you or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you. 

We work together to reach our mission to give children a healthy start in life.  

Good luck! We can't wait to hear from you.   

Contact: If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Team at RecruitmentService@actionforchildren.org.uk quoting reference 13129.

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

Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion 

At Spring, 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 Job Description 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.  

Want to know more about Spring and Oscars? 

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See below for further information about working with us:

Employee Reward Booklet

Spring Early Years Career Pathway