Nursery manager

Lead a team of people who provide daycare and learning for babies and young children.

Also known as: head of early learning and childcare centre, head of centre (nursery)

About the job

What it's like

Are you an early learning and childcare professional ready to take the next step in your career?

As a nursery manager, you'll lead a team of people who provide early learning and childcare for babies and young children. You'll be responsible for the day-to-day running of the nursery.

You'll manage and support your staff – often a team of early years practitioners, support workers or early years teachers. You'll make sure the nursery is a safe and nurturing environment for children to learn and develop.

Nursery managers lead the centre – developing a planning system that reflects local and national guidance. You could work in a local authority setting or a privately-owned nursery. Your duties and salary will differ depending on which type of nursery you work at.

Your tasks might include:

creating a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment that promotes learning through play
recruiting and managing staff to develop a skilled workforce
working closely with parents or carers to plan for their child's development
monitoring and observing playrooms and the performance of your staff
writing management reports and maintaining records for staff and children
complying with health and safety, food hygiene, infection prevention and control as well as fire safety regulations

To become a nursery manager, you'll need experience in another lead role within early learning and childcare. For example, you could work as a team leader, supervisor or deputy nursery manager.

Explore more information about this job

Here are some useful links to learn more about this career:

Scottish Social Services Council – learn about Professional Registration and Scottish Standards for Childhood Practice
Disclosure Scotland – find out about the Protecting the Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme
National Day Nurseries Association – explore early years careers in Scotland

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Getting in

Explore each section to find more information about getting into this career.

Colleges and universities will list subjects you'll need for entry to a course. Some useful subjects include:

Administration and Information Technology
Childcare and Development
English
Maths (Mathematics)
Foundation Apprenticeship: Social Services Children and Young People
Applications of Mathematics

You can get a head start in this career by doing a Foundation Apprenticeship in S5 and S6.

You'll get an SCQF level 6 qualification which is the same level as a Higher. You'll also learn new skills and gain valuable experience in a work environment.

Discover what's on offer at your school on Apprenticeships.scot.

Most nursery managers start off in an early years practitioner role. They then progress into a senior like team leader, supervisor or deputy nursery manager. Once they've built plenty of experience, they move into management.

Here are the routes you can take.

University

You’ll need a degree or postgraduate qualification that's recognised by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). You could study:

Childhood Practice
Early Years Education and Childcare
Education and Social Services
Education Studies

Use the My World of Work course search to find relevant degrees.

College

Getting qualifications at college, such as an HNC or HND, could help you secure an early years practitioner job or progress to more advanced study. Useful subjects include:

Childhood Practice
Early Education and Childcare

Work

Already working in an early learning and childcare setting? If so, you can do extra qualifications at work that'll allow you to apply for nursery manager roles.

To move into a nursery manager position, you'll need:

experience working in early learning and childcare
a degree-level qualification – you can work towards this alongside your current job

You can use the My World of Work job search to look for vacancies.

Apprenticeships

Graduate Apprenticeships (GAs) are designed for industry. You'll spend most of your time learning on the job but you'll also go to uni or college. You'll have a job, get paid and work towards a qualification at the same time.

You might want to consider this GA in Early Learning and Childcare – it'll put you in a good position to apply for nursery manager roles once you complete it.

Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) mean you learn on the job. You'll get paid and work towards a qualification at the same time.

To start your career, you might want to consider an MA in Social Services (Children and Young People).

A full clean driving licence may be valuable, especially in roles where you're managing multiple sites.
It's useful to have experience of leading a range of teams and working with families from a variety of backgrounds.

Any practitioner working with children who are not yet at primary school must be registered with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). To register, you must meet or be willing to work towards the required qualifications.
All nursery managers must be approved for membership of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme, run by Disclosure Scotland.
You should have excellent knowledge and experience of Curriculum for Excellence.
Anybody who is a qualified teacher and is working in early learning and childcare must be registered with the General Teaching Council of Scotland.
Getting work experience in a relevant childcare role is essential to build the skills and experience you’ll need to become a nursery manager. Search for opportunities on Volunteer Scotland.

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