Early Years Practitioner Level 3

Early Years Practitioner (Qualified)

Location: Gateshead

Salary: up to £27,299 per annum

Contract/

Hours:

Permanent/Full Time – 40 hours per week.

Closing date: Midnight on the 8th of July 2026

• Time off to recharge – 25 days per annum plus bank holidays
• Treat yourself – Staff discounts portal and blue light card with 15,000+ retailers.
• Salary Finance – access to financial advice and the ability to manage savings or loans directly from your salary.
• Childcare Discount – A whopping 60% off childcare within our nurseries and out of school clubs.
• Up to 3 Days Dependency Leave – to care for dependents in an emergency.
• Paid maternity, adoption, and paternity leave
  .
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities.
• Secure your future – Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover.

We're looking for passionate, qualified Level 3 early years practitioners to join our warm, welcoming nursery team. You’ll work closely with children ages 0‑5, supporting their learning, development and well‑being through fun, play‑based activities.

You’ll help create a safe, stimulating environment where every child feels happy, confident, and valued. You’ll observe progress, track development milestones, and build strong, trusting relationships with both children and their families. It’s a rewarding role where you’ll make a real difference to little ones’ earliest years.

In the role of Early Years Practitioner (Level
3), we’re ideally looking for someone who has:

• A Level 3 Early Years and Childcare qualification (NNEB, CACHE, NVQ Level 2 or 3 or equivalent)
• Experience in planning and delivering educational programmes for children aged 0 to 5, tailored to their individual needs and developmental stages.
• The ability to observe, guidance support less experienced colleagues, helping them to develop their skills.
• Experience applying effective communication techniques with children and their families.
• Knowledge of children's emotional, physical, psychological, and educational development from 0‑5 years.
• Awareness and understanding of special educational needs (SEN) and how these are supported in an early year setting.

Spring Leam Lane is a welcoming, inclusive setting at the heart of the community, part of the trusted Spring Nurseries family. Here, children feel safe, inspired and ready to learn and explore. The setting has a calm, natural feel, with lovely outdoor areas, forest school space, and newly refurbished garden areas, with access to a sensory room and library for our children to enjoy.

Our team is long‑standing, welcoming and we’re proud of our strong reputation for providing support to children with a range of disabilities and SEND needs.

Spring offers award‑winning childcare services, as part of the national charity Action for Children. It’s our mission to be the best provider of outstanding quality early education to children throughout the UK, which is accessible to all. We are focused on enabling young people to learn, have fun and make friends in our bright, engaging settings. That starts with creating a happy environment for our team.

• A kind, caring culture with an emphasis on wellbeing, both physical and mental.
• Flexible working – wherever possible we offer flexibility on hours and/or hybrid working.
• Lots of opportunities for training, learning, development, including gaining qualifications.
• Excellent benefits that compare favourably to other employers in our sector.

At Spring Oscars we’re dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under‑represented within the organisation. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups.

Male staff are often under‑represented within this sector, and we would like to encourage more male applicants for our roles.

We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best‑practice.