Jobs at Spring by Action for Children (Now Hiring) — 7 open

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

Benefits:  

• 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.

About the role:

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.

What we need from you  

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.

About Spring Leam Lane:

Spring Leam Lane is it 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 team and we're proud of our strong reputation for providing support to children with a range of disabilities and SEND needs.

About Spring 

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.  

 Join us and you can look forward to:  

• 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. 

 

Ready to make a difference in the lives of children? Whether you're looking for a career change or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you!  

Contact: If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Team at [email protected] quoting reference 13284. 

We'll be happy to give you any support you require.  

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion  

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.  

 

Application Process 

Please note we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. 

There are 5 sections for you to complete - Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration – please refer to the Job Description when applying.  

We also want to know what unique qualities you can bring to help us reach our vision for children and families.  

 
Talent Pool: We're sure you've got what it takes to join our ambitious team. If you're unsuccessful this time around, we'd like to hold your details in case similar jobs come up that you might be better suited for. But feel free to let us know if you'd rather, we did not do that.  

 

Want to know more about Spring and Oscars?  

Check out our socials on Linkedin, Facebook or Youtube. 

 

See below for further information about working with us: 

Employee Reward Booklet 

Spring Early Years Career Pathway 

Job Description