Job Description

The Denver Waldorf School (DWS) is seeking caring, dependable, and flexible individuals to join our substitute team as Substitute Early Childhood Assistants for our Nursery and Early Childhood (Kindergarten) classrooms.

This position is ideal for individuals who genuinely enjoy working with young children and are happy to provide support wherever it is needed. Substitute Assistants do not serve as the Lead Teacher or teach lessons. Instead, they work alongside the classroom teaching team to help maintain the daily rhythm of the classroom, supervise children, assist with daily routines, and help keep the classroom clean, organized, and welcoming.

Our Nursery classrooms serve children ages 2 to 4½, and our Early Childhood classrooms serve children ages 3½ to 6.

The Denver Waldorf School is a friendly and lively urban K-12 school with 300 students located in Denver, Colorado with the splendor of the Rocky Mountains just a short trip away. Founded in 1974, we are a fully accredited full member school of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, the Waldorf Early Childhood Association and the Association of Colorado Independent Schools.

Knowledge of Waldorf education is preferred but not required.

Essential Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Supporting the Lead Teacher and classroom assistants with the daily rhythm and routines of the classroom.
• Supervising children during indoor and outdoor play.
• Assisting children with transitions, snack, rest time, and other daily activities.
• Helping create a warm, nurturing, and joyful environment where children feel safe and supported.
• Building caring, respectful relationships with young children.
• Assisting with classroom setup, organization, and cleanup throughout the day.
• Helping maintain a clean, beautiful, orderly, and welcoming classroom environment.
• Washing dishes, sanitizing tables and materials, sweeping, and assisting with other classroom cleaning tasks as needed.
• Working collaboratively with the classroom team to support a safe, healthy, and developmentally appropriate environment.
• Following the direction of the Lead Teacher and adapting to the needs of different classrooms.

Requirements

The ideal candidate will have:

• Qualifications that meet Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) requirements for Early Childhood staff.
• A genuine love of working with children ages 2 to 6.
• A collaborative, flexible, and dependable approach.
• A willingness to assist with classroom organization, cleaning, and daily routines.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, walk, use hands, reach with arms, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee may need to be able to lift or move up to 20 pounds.