Head of Childcare Services - Campus Services - 42397 - Grade 8

Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

7/25/2025

Job Description

Position Details

Campus Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £46,735 to £55,755 with potential progression once in post to £62,728

Grade: 8

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 17th August 2025

UK travel may be required for this role

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

The Head of Childcare Services works within the Accommodation and Operations directorate based within Campus Services. Accommodation and Operations includes three functions: Nurseries, Winterbourne House & Garden and Student Living.

Role Summary

This role is to maintain high quality standards across the University’s Day Nurseries and demonstrate strong and positive leadership in the following:

• To ensure the Nursery settings are child centred environments which hold high standards of physical, emotional, social and intellectual education and care for all children in the Nursery.
• Ensure day to day operations are well managed.
• Promote a high performing culture amongst the management team and their teams.
• To supervise, support and lead the professional development of Nursery staff in regard to the standards of quality and practices required by EYFS and Ofsted and to strive to become a flagship of good practice for the sector.
• To work alongside Campus Services marketing to deliver a cohesive all year-round marketing plan.
• To ensure a sustainable Nursery business through both knowledge and understanding of the sector and the effective management of finances and staffing ratios in relation to occupancy levels.
  
  

Main Duties

• To lead a team of professionals including managers, teachers, practitioners, kitchen assistants and students whilst ensuring good practice is maintained at all times.
• To ensure the provision of high standards of physical and emotional care, providing a child-centred environment where children are cared for in a safe, caring and stimulating way that ensures their individual needs are met within a group setting.
• To be the University's 'Nominated Person' with Ofsted and liaise with all other professional bodies and agencies associated with childcare provision.
• Maintain networks with other childcare settings, both within the higher education sector and the wider childcare sector, to allow sharing of best practice and benchmarking, and ensuring the University of Birmingham is represented at events, conferences, meetings and committees and is seen as a leader in helping to promote children’s services.
• To maintain high quality and financially sustainable Nursery settings, overseeing all aspects of the day-to-day business and administrative practices.
• The Head of Childcare Services must thrive on building teams and leading a culture which centres around ‘children first.’
• The Head of Childcare Services will have access to confidential information relating to staff, children and parents, noting they are a person of trust they must hold high integrity.
• Actively manages equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.
• Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.
  
  

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) plus significant relevant practical experience – where no equivalent qualification is held substantial practical relevant experience and expertise in a series of progressively more demanding roles will be required.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly for a variety of audiences, and to produce and analyse source material, information and data.
• Authoritative knowledge of the work practices, processes and procedures relevant to the role, including broader sector/commercial awareness.
• Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.
• Ability to monitor and evaluate the extent to which equality and diversity legislation, policies, procedures are applied.
• Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action.
  
  

DBS Required

The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.

Informal enquiries to Tim Owen, email: [email protected] and Paula Hunt, email: [email protected]

View our staff values and behaviours here

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .