Tinies
Deputy Manager
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Deputy Manager
This nursery is built on a simple but powerful belief: early years should be joyful, imaginative, and alive with possibility. Our approach blends high-quality childcare with music, storytelling, movement, arts and imaginative play, offering a warm, boutique alternative to traditional nurseries.
At the heart of Piccolo is our purpose-built role-play village — a richly designed environment where children learn through immersive storytelling, creative expression, music, movement and meaningful play. This is not a traditional nursery. It is a place where imagination leads learning.
Role Purpose
The Deputy Manager role is for someone who takes real pride in making a setting run beautifully, where the day flows, the team feels supported, and everything is in place for children to thrive.
At this nursery the Deputy Manager helps to lead the operational and organisational life of the setting — the rhythm of the day, the strength of the team, the safety and smooth running that everything else depends on.
This is a leadership role with real ownership. You will be the person who helps hold the setting together day to day and the leader who takes full charge in the Manager's absence - including during school holidays. If you're someone who loves the operational craft of early years: building a happy team, creating order out of a busy day, and knowing that children are safe and settled because of the systems you've helped build, this role is for you.
Reporting and working relationships
- Reports to: Nursery Manager
- Works closely with: The Nursery Manager, the setting's owner, and the operations manager, as part of a collaborative leadership team
- Deputises for: The Nursery Manager, taking full operational charge of the setting in their absence
- Safeguarding role: Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (Deputy DSL)
Key Responsibilities
Operational leadership
- Help ensure the smooth operational running of the nursery and preschool.
- Lead on staff deployment across the setting, ensuring correct ratios and qualified coverage are maintained at all times, including at opening, closing, breaks, and during staff absence.
- Create, manage and adjust daily and weekly staff rotas, arranging cover for absence, appointments, and training.
- Help coordinate the practical running of the day: arrivals, transitions, mealtimes, sleep routines, and home time so the day flows calmly and predictably for children and staff.
- Ensure the setting opens and closes securely, with all opening and closing procedures completed.
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Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
- Act as Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (Deputy DSL), holding safeguarding responsibility in the Manager's absence and supporting the Manager as DSL at all other times.
- Ensure safeguarding and child protection concerns are recorded, escalated and acted upon without delay, in line with policy and statutory guidance.
- Support the maintenance of accurate, secure safeguarding records and the single central record.
- Help ensure all staff understand and follow safeguarding procedures, and feel confident to raise concerns.
- Undertake Deputy DSL training and keep it current, alongside wider safeguarding training.
Cover for the Nursery Manager
A defined and important part of this role is holding the setting confidently when the Manager is not present, particularly during school holidays, when the Manager may be on leave, and on any protected curriculum-development time built into the Manager's week.
- Take full operational charge of the setting during the Manager's planned and unplanned absences.
- Act as the senior person on site and the first point of contact for staff, families, and visitors during those periods.
- Hold Deputy DSL responsibility for safeguarding while in charge.
- Escalate to the owner where a decision falls outside the Deputy's authority, for example, significant HR matters, formal safeguarding referrals to LADO, or Ofsted notifications, where the Manager is not contactable.
- Ensure continuity of care and routine so that children experience no disruption when the Manager is away.
Staff support and supervision
- Support the induction of new staff, students and volunteers, helping them settle quickly and understand how the nursery works.
- Support, mentor and encourage practitioners day-to-day, fostering a positive, professional and supportive team culture.
- Support the Manager with staff supervision and appraisal, particularly on operational performance, reliability and conduct.
- Help identify practical training needs and coordinate mandatory training compliance (safeguarding, paediatric first aid, food hygiene).
Care and quality (in support of the Manager)
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While the Manager leads on curriculum and the quality of learning, the Deputy Manager plays a full part in maintaining excellent care and helps translate the Manager's curriculum vision into consistent daily practice.
- Work in ratio with children as a practising professional, modelling warm, high-quality interactions.
- Support the delivery of the curriculum and the role-play village experience, helping ensure the Manager's vision is realised consistently across the setting.
- Support inclusive practice and SEND provision day-to-day, working alongside the Manager and key workers.
- Maintain high standards of care, learning and wellbeing for every child.
Parent partnership
- Build warm, professional relationships with families, and be a visible, approachable presence at drop-off and pick-up.
- Handle day-to-day parent queries and operational concerns, escalating complex or formal matters to the Manager.
- Support settling-in processes and promote the nurseries values and ethos.
Essential Requirements
- Level 3 qualification in Early Years / Childcare (or above).
- Significant experience in a nursery, preschool or early years setting, including experience as a room leader or above.
- Strong, confident understanding of the EYFS and safeguarding requirements.
- Experience of supervising, supporting or deploying staff.
- Experience supporting children with SEND.
- Confident organiser, able to manage rotas, ratios and the moving parts of a busy setting calmly.
- Current Paediatric First Aid certificate (or willingness to obtain).
- Willingness to undertake Deputy DSL training.
- Enhanced DBS check (with children's barred list check).
- Calm, nurturing, dependable and highly organised approach.
Desirable (but not essential)
- Previous experience as a Deputy Manager.
- Existing Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy DSL training.
- Experience supporting Ofsted inspections.
- SENCo training or experience.
- Paediatric First Aid already held.
- Interest in creative or play-based learning approaches.
- Experience helping to set up or develop a new provision.
What We Offer
- A supportive, owner-led environment and a collaborative leadership team.
- A small, community-focused setting where you'll know every child and family.
- Competitive salary and ongoing professional development.
- A chance to grow with the business
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