Room Leader

Step into a pivotal leadership role where you’ll shape the daily experiences, learning journeys, and wellbeing of young children in a well-established early years setting in Sutton. This is an opportunity to lead a dedicated room team, drive high-quality practice, and ensure every child thrives in a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment.

About the Role:

As a Room Leader, you will take day-to-day responsibility for the effective running of your designated room, ensuring a consistently high standard of care and education. You will lead and motivate your team to deliver an engaging EYFS curriculum, maintain robust safeguarding practices, and build strong partnerships with parents and carers. Your work will directly influence children’s progress, staff development, and the overall quality of provision within the setting.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the daily operation of the room, ensuring routines, activities, and transitions run smoothly and safely.
• Plan, implement, and evaluate an age-appropriate EYFS curriculum that supports children’s learning and development across all areas.
• Oversee and quality-check observations, assessments, and individual learning plans, ensuring they are accurate, timely, and meaningful.
• Model and promote positive behaviour management strategies, supporting children’s emotional regulation and social development.
• Ensure robust safeguarding and welfare practices are consistently followed, including supervision, risk assessments, and reporting procedures.
• Maintain high standards of record keeping and documentation, including attendance, accidents, incidents, and developmental records.
• Lead, support, and mentor room staff, including delegating tasks, providing feedback, and supporting performance reviews.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with parents and carers, providing regular updates on children’s progress and addressing concerns promptly.

Key Requirements:

• Proven experience working in an early years setting, including previous responsibility for leading a room or small team.
• Strong knowledge and practical application of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.
• Demonstrable understanding of child safeguarding, welfare requirements, and relevant policies and procedures.
• Confident in using positive behaviour management techniques tailored to individual children’s needs.
• Competent in conducting observations and assessments and using them to inform planning and next steps.
• Experience in planning and delivering engaging, inclusive activities that support a broad range of learning styles and abilities.
• Ability to manage and prioritise workload, maintain organisation, and meet deadlines in a busy environment.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to lead, motivate, and support colleagues.

Desirable Skills:

• Experience delivering in-house training or coaching to early years staff.
• Familiarity with digital systems or software for observations, assessments, and record keeping.
• Experience supporting children with additional needs or working alongside external professionals.
• Involvement in quality improvement initiatives, such as preparing for inspections or implementing new policies and procedures.

Qualifications:

• Level 3 (or above) qualification in Early Years/Childcare (e.g., NVQ, CACHE, or equivalent) – essential.
• Paediatric First Aid certificate – essential or willingness to obtain within agreed timeframe.
• Safeguarding and Child Protection training – essential (up-to-date).
• Leadership or supervisory training/qualification in early years – desirable.
• Evidence of ongoing professional development relevant to early years education and care – desirable.

If you are a confident early years practitioner ready to take ownership of a room and lead a team to deliver outstanding care and learning, this role offers a rewarding next step in your career. Apply now to play a key part in shaping children’s early experiences in Sutton.

Author: Chris Brown

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