Are you looking for a new challenge? Are you an exceptional Early Years Practitioner that wants to inspire and motivate others? Are you passionate about early intervention and making a difference to the lives of young children? Do you have experience of working with young children with complex SEND? Are you creative and adaptable with the ability to use a range of approaches and strategies? Are you playful, imaginative and engaging? Are you able to lead a team of Early Years Practitioners and Assistants – modelling exceptional practice and empowering your team to grow and develop as professionals?

We have a position as a Senior Early Years Practitioner (SEYP) to join and lead our dedicated and highly driven team. We are looking for someone who has a love of working with young children is forward thinking in developing provision and practice and has experience of working with children within the 2 - 5 year old age range. We are an inclusive nursery offering resourced SEND places and this role will include working with a high number of children with complex special educational needs daily.

You will be playful and flexible in your approach and be able to interact with children through play, making observations of their learning and progress and having fun. You will lead practitioners in planning and implementing an exciting child-led curriculum and learning experiences both inside and out. You will use knowledge of early year’s pedagogy, specific interventions, strategies and approaches to ensure that all children have access to a stimulating and developmentally appropriate curriculum.
 

You will be motivated and able to use your own initiative in order to engage and inspire children. You will have good communication skills and knowledge of how young children learn. You must be adaptable, able to work within a large nursery team and be dedicated in supporting young children to grow. We can offer you a welcoming and supportive environment to develop your professional skills and knowledge. We are committed to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and have lots of experience to share as part of induction. As part of the role, you will understand the need for confidentiality and follow safeguarding procedures. 

• Closing Date: Sunday 2nd November 2025

• Interview Date(s): Thursday 6th November 2025

• Job Start Date: As soon as possible

• Contract/Hours: Permanent

• Salary Type: Support Staff 

• Salary Details: Support Staff Grade D - £27,780 - £30,564 FTE, pro rata. Actual Annual Salary £24,371 - £26,814 based on 37 hours per week, 40 working weeks. In addition, flexibility to work from 7:30am / until 6pm on some days to support our before/after school provision. Additional hours to be paid as overtime. 

• Hours of Work: Full time 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, term time, plus 2 days till 6pm.

• Location of Role: Lanterns Nursery School 

• Contact e-mail address: recruitment@lanterns.hants.sch.uk

• Visits to our nursery school are warmly welcomed.

To apply, please complete an application form and equalities monitoring form (found below) and email them to recruitment@lanterns.hants.sch.uk

Job/Person Summary

• Hampshire Maintained Nursery – one of 3 in Hampshire, led by a Headteacher

• Local authority pay conditions and pension

• Term time working

• Core hour working day – 8.00am to 4.00pm Monday to Friday. Flexibility to work from 7:30am / until 6pm on some days to support our before/after school provision. Additional hours to be paid as overtime. 

• Inclusive Nursery with resourced SEND provision including autism, global developmental delay and profound multiple learning difficulties

• Thorough induction and CPD opportunities to include the Lanterns approach to teaching and learning in the early years, Makaton, Attention Autism, communication and visuals, trauma informed practice, sensory processing

• Forward thinking approach to teaching and learning following current theory and the most up to date research and practice