Nursery Assistant Job Description

Written by:

Claudio Sisera

Nursery Assistant Job Description

Written by:

Claudio Sisera

A Nursery Assistant works in a childcare facility to create a safe, educational and fun environment for young children. Their duties include helping develop a positive curriculum within the Early Years Foundation Stage, whilst ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the children in the nursery.

What are the Duties and Responsibilities of a Nursery Assistant?

A Nursery Assistant is a physically active position that engages with children aged between 0 and 5 on an individual level while still supervising the rest of the classroom. They work in close partnership with qualified Early Years Educators and Nursery Room Leaders to make sure that the individual needs of the children are met. The duties of a Nursery Assistant include, but are not limited to:

Planning and supervising fun and educational activities
Managing a daily routine that includes activities, toilet breaks, meal times and nap time
Observing children, keeping track of their development and taking notes of any challenging behaviour
Feeding and changing babies
Communicating with parents and staff members
Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children
Helping children develop throughout the 7 areas of learning within the EYFS

As a Nursery Assistant, you will play an important role in caring for young children in a childcare setting. As part of a team, you will assist your Nursery Room Leader in planning and organising both fun and educational activities for the classroom. You will work in a childcare setting run by a private individual, school, community group or local authority.

What will I be doing as a Nursery Assistant?

As a Nursery Assistant, you will support qualified Early Years Educators and Nursery Room Leaders within your classroom. Together, you will provide the young children in your care with a safe, stimulating and rewarding environment in which they can develop and grow confidently. You will provide a high standard of physical, social and personal care.

You will work alongside your staff team, as well as families, external agencies and management team, to deliver such care. Along with the other nursery staff, you will plan activities to stimulate interest and provide fun for the children.

Your tasks as a Nursery Assistant will include:

Supervising children at all times, to ensure they play and take risks safely.
Interacting with children to ensure daily activities are educational as well as fun.

Your responsibilities could include:

Taking the children on outings to places of interest, such as parks, museums, supermarkets, libraries, and more.
Helping children to develop communication, literacy and numeracy skills though play.
Engaging in arts, music, crafts and cooking activities in accordance with the weekly planning.
Making sure that each child is collected by someone known to the nursery and that unauthorised strangers do not enter the premises.
Carrying out domestic duties such as preparing meals and snacks, wash children’s beddings and cleaning equipment and toys.
Recording any possible accidents in the official accident book as per the nursery’s policies and procedures.
Washing and changing children when needed.
Providing comfort and high standards of care to an upset or poorly child

Where could I work as a Nursery Assistant?

As a Nursery Assistant, you could work for several types of employers, such as nurseries, day nurseries, pre-schools, family centres, playgroups, crèches and Clych Meithrin. Mudiad Meithrin is the main provider of Welsh-medium early years education and care in the voluntary sector.

Nursery Assistants are mostly employed at private nurseries or those attached to schools, but they can also be employed in other institutions such as family centres or hospitals, though no matter the type of organisation, nursery assistants tend to be still dealing with a lot of the same responsibilities. The positions can either be part time or full time.

Sometimes the position can be specifically hired to focus on children with special educational needs. If a certain specialism is required, employers will include it in the job advert.

What skills do I need to be a Nursery Assistant?

A sense of fun, energy, imagination, empathy and patience are all key skills you will need if you are planning to apply for a Nursery Assistant job. Because it is possible to work in a nursery setting without specific childcare qualifications, most settings recognise the importance for candidates to have selected skills that offer more support for children’s learning.

Essential skills include, but are not limited to:

Being patient, caring and calm nature
Being imaginative and creative
Being passionate about working with children
Having a sense of responsibility
Having a positive and enthusiastic attitude
Having good communication skills
Having good organisation, record keeping and planning skills

What are the requirements to be a Nursery Assistant?

To be considered for a Nursery Assistant role, the relevant experience you should have might include working in other early years roles where you might have developed your active listening skills, organisational skills, and received first aid training.

Employers typically seek candidates with a minimum of 6 months childcare experience to fill their Nursery Assistant vacancies. You can gain experience in early years in a variety of ways:

Working in other early years settings, such as nurseries, pre-schools, family centres, creches, playgroups, and more.
Childminding
Babysitting
Nannying
Tutoring
Volunteering in child-related charities, education settings or hospitals.

What is the average salary of a Nursery Assistant in the UK?

An unqualified Nursery Assistant in the UK earns an average salary of £15,277 a year, reaching up to £24,000 per annum depending on their experience, location and the type of setting they work at.