Nursery Practitioner/Room Leader

What are the responsibilities and duties of a Room Leader?

A Room Leader’s duties cover many aspects. Here’s a breakdown of the main responsibilities of their role across a range of areas, from education to health and safety, and how each of these duties is achieved:

• Promoting high-quality childcare:

• Room Leaders must ensure the environment of the playroom is highly stimulating. This means it meets all standards, regulations and guidelines of the EYFS, such as the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning (CoETL). This includes providing high-quality resources and experiences for children which aid all areas of their development. For example, a range of different play areas which support different skills, such as a Sand Area for digging, and a Creative Area for painting, arts and crafts, and so on.

• They also support good practices around Inclusion. For example, ensuring appropriate support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)and those who use English as an additional language (EAL).

• Some level of planning ahead and adjusting care and resources to meet EYFS guidelines is also expected, although the Room Leader will often consult with the senior management team for long-term planning or any major changes to their practices.

• Communicating with parents, carers and local authorities:

Room Leaders need to communicate openly and effectively with the parents and carers of the children in their care. This includes providing professional feedback about each child’s development and education regularly, such as through a detailed Progress Summary Form. It also includes making sure all relevant information about the child is provided by parents, such as any allergies or special requirements they might have.

The Room Leader should also encourage other members of staff to build positive relationships with parents and carers and provide advice and support to help them do this if needed. Take a look at these Top Tips for Parental Engagement in the EYFS for advice in this area.

As a Room Leader, you may also need to maintain good communication with local authorities and governing bodies that are associated with the nursery setting to ensure a functional and professional relationship.

Keeping children safe and healthy:

The Room Leader's top priority is to keep all children in their care safe and healthy at all times, by minimising any risks throughout the setting. This involves keeping the setting clean and free of danger, with the help of your staff.To do this, you’ll need to have a strong understanding of all health and safety policies and procedures that are relevant to nursery settings. This includes safeguarding, emergency and security procedures. You must also ensure all staff understand any health and safety policies relevant to their role, and that they’re capable of following procedures effectively.