Early Years Team Manager

The Opportunity

Salary: NJC Grade 12 £46,731 to £49,764 per annum

Contract Type: Fixed Term/Secondment mat cover, until 26 August 2026

Working Pattern: 37 hours per week, full time

Location: County Hall Chichester, County Hall North Horsham, or Bridge House Worthing

Please note:

• You'll need to be able to travel independently to various locations around the county, some in remote locations, which may not be easily accessible by public transport, and on occasion work beyond normal hours to meet the needs of the service.
• There is a regular and intrinsic requirement to communicate in English with members of the public.
• Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you discuss and agree this with your manager before applying.

Closing date: 01 June 2025

Interview date: Tuesday 10 June (am) and Thursday 12 June (pm).

Do you thrive on leading others and working in partnership with a range of customers?

Are you passionate about supporting the best outcomes for children and their families?

West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is committed to working with our partners to ensure that services are fully coordinated, providing seamless pathways for children and families so that they have access to high quality universal services, as well as additional support where required.

Our Right From The Start Early Years and Childcare strategy shows an ambition to create a system-wide approach to early years and childcare, supporting families from birth and beyond, which puts children first, as part of the overall children first vision.

As a Team Manager for Early Years Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Inclusion, you will play a vital role in this work, facilitating the early identification of additional needs so that children and their families benefit from an inclusive, tailored support service with timely intervention. This involves implementing projects and initiatives to improve outcomes for pupils with SEND, offering family support, and ensuring inclusive practice in childcare and education.

You will manage and supervise a team of Early Years and Childcare Advisors (EYCAs), offering support and training to improve the quality of care and education to the highest standard.

This is a collaborative role where you will work closely in partnership with Early Years and Childcare Providers, Schools, Parent and Carers, EYCAs, and Local Authority teams such as Portage, SENAT (Special Educational Needs Assessment Team), Senior Advisors, Advisory Teams, and Educational Psychology Services to drive forward the SEND and Inclusion agenda, ensuring early years is a key priority.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

• Confidentiality, security, and maintenance of information.
• Safeguarding and raising issues of concern to protect children.
• Managing and chairing medium to long term projects, with responsibility for budgets up to £100,000.
• Challenging existing practice and creating solutions, balancing risk, and managing resources.
• Following, and where required, proposing new policies.
• Integrated working to promote positive relationships and processes with all partners, removing 'barriers' with external providers which could impact the current or future service provided to families and children.

For full information on the Key Skills, Qualifications and/or Experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached. Please refer to the key skills in the job description in your cover letter, as these will be used for shortlisting.

About You

We are looking for someone who has significant experience of leading within the early years and childcare sector, who can respond appropriately to challenging and sensitive situations.

You will be able to demonstrate a broad and deep knowledge of child development from birth to age 5 and a secure understanding of developments in SEND and inclusion. You will have the ability to anticipate problems, plan solutions and make sound pragmatic problem-solving decisions, using sound IT skills to analyse data, produce reports and monitor impact.

If you have the skills to persuade and challenge clients, partners, and colleagues to undertake the best and most appropriate courses of action through in-depth specialist advice, we would love to hear from you.

Qualifications and/or experience required:

• Degree level qualification in a relevant field.
• Qualified Teacher Status with Early Years Specialism or Early Years Teacher status.
• SENCO qualification or equivalent.
• Demonstrable recent experience of leading early years practice in either maintained or non-maintained early years provision, or within a local authority.
• Secure knowledge and evidence of implementing the Early Years Framework and related pedagogical issues.
• Secure knowledge and evidence of implementing the SEND Code of Practice.
• Understanding and experience of using effective strategies to support children with SEND.
• Ability to engage providers positively with improvement strategies to raise the engagement and achievement of children with SEND and other vulnerabilities.
• Understanding of how children learn in and through a broad curriculum in the early years and beyond.
• Knowledge of the characteristics of effective settings and schools and the Ofsted Framework.
• Demonstrable experience of applying management and consultancy techniques, models and systems to a wide range of situations.

About Us

Our Standards and Effectiveness Service is the key service driving a cultural change towards a school- and sector-led improvement programme that provides a sustainable capacity within the sector for continuous improvement.

Early Years work is a key stage in the child's journey through education and the Early Years team provides crucial support in ensuring that all settings carry out their statutory duties and fundamentals of childhood learning and improvement.

Benefits

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance, and are rewarded for the work they do.

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits including the following:

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CAFHE05714.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Katie Crompton (Early Years Strategic Lead) at

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter.

In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, five years referencing, and an occupational health check.

Equity, inclusion, and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.