Early Years Practitioner (Nursery)

JOB DESCRIPTION

Early Years Practitioner (Nursery)

REPORTS TO:                 Head of Nursery

DATE OF ISSUE:              February 2026

HOURS OF WORK:        Approximately 43½ hours per week (Full Year)
.

BACKGROUND
Dumpton School is a Prep School in the heart of Dorset near the thriving market town of Wimborne,
which offers an outstanding education to children aged 2 to 13 years old. The school has undergone a
prolonged period of stability and success, and boasts superb, modern facilities, a strong roll of over 340
pupils, and a forward thinking and ambitious approach to education, recognised by ISI as having a
“significant strength” in our most recent inspection. Dumpton has recently merged with Canford School
to form The Canford Schools Group – this is an exciting chapter for both schools and there are
ambitious plans for the future.

Dumpton’s strength is built upon a brilliant staff team who work hard to create a superb environment
for children to flourish and fulfil their potential, focusing on academic success, as well as character
education.

Two core values – Be Kind and Aim High – lie at the cornerstone of Dumpton’s ethos and culture, and
also sit at the heart of Dumpton’s vision ‘a nurturing and aspirational environment where every child
fulfils their academic and personal potential’.

PURPOSE:
The Dumpton Pre-Prep and Nursery are undergoing and exciting period of growth and success. The
Early Years Practitioner (Nursery) will join a strong Nursery team and play a key role in ensuring
Dumpton continues to be seen as a leading independent school which provides a superb education for
its pupils. The successful candidate will be an outstanding practitioner in the Dumpton Nursery, and play
a lead role in creating a nurturing environment where young children are encouraged to be kind, aim high
and fulfil their full potential.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

•  To play a lead role in providing a safe, supportive and caring environment for young children in
the care of Dumpton Nursery: to ensure that all aspects of each individual child’s development
are given full consideration.

•  To work closely in partnership with parents to support their child’s development.
•  To be fully up to date with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

•  To be proactive in the process of activity planning, child observation

and maintaining development records.

•  To be an effective key person and buddy to those children assigned to you.
•  To follow all routines, duties, timetables, rotas, record keeping activities and any other reasonable

duty as requested.

•  To maintain and follow Dumpton’s policies and procedures at all time.
•  To ensure that communication with children, parents and the staff team is maintained at the

highest level.

•  To maintain confidentiality about all issues related to the setting.
•  To provide staff cover within the Foundation Stage as instructed.
•  To attend meetings, professional development training and any other events as requested.
•  To support and mentor colleagues in their practice.
•  To take responsibility for health and safety checks including toy and equipment maintenance and

all Dumpton policies and procedures.

•  To assist other staff in setting up the Nursery before the start of term
•  To understand Safeguarding Children and report any concerns or observations to the DSL

This list of responsibilities is not exhaustive and the employee will be required to perform duties outside
of this at the discretion of the Headmaster

FURTHER INFORMATION
Working Hours (there is some flexibility for outstanding candidates)
Monday to Wednesday - 8:00am to 5:30pm
Thursday - 8:00am to 3:30pm
Friday – 8:00am to 3:30pm

Pay - £13.21 - £13.39 per hour

Start Date – Monday 20 April 2026

•  The school is inclusive and committed to achieving equality of opportunity for our pupils – and
we feel the same about our staff. We would actively encourage candidates of all backgrounds,
experiences and perspectives to work at Dumpton, contributing to a rich, diverse staff team
where our unique talents can contribute to our collective success.
• Applicants must undergo a DBS check and all associated checks. As per the latest Safer
Recruitment guidance for education, the school will request references in advance of interviews
– please contact us if this is an issue.

•

Candidates should send a completed application form to recruitment@dumpton.com or by post marked
for the attention of the Head of Pre-Prep, Dumpton School,
 Deans Grove House, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 7AF

All applications must be made using our standard application form

The closing date for applications is Monday 9 March 2026

Interviews for short listed candidates to take place during week beginning Monday 9 March 2026

The role will commence Monday 20th April 2026

Dumpton School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff
and volunteers to share this commitment.

All successful job applicants will be required to undergo child protection screening.