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Childcare & Early Education

Our Commitment

People are vital to the success and efficiency of Derwent Stepping Stones and we see it as our responsibility to ensure that each individual in our staff team is enabled to fulfil their potential.

There are many benefits to working in childcare; your days are never the same, the job is active and challenging, and you get to enjoy watching children grow and develop under your care, to name just a few. At Derwent Stepping Stones, however, we recognise that people have needs, desires and responsibilities relating to both their work and personal lives and want to keep a healthy balance between work and personal fulfilment. We are committed to the welfare of our staff and to providing the tools and environment that enable them to enjoy balance in order to give our children high quality care and education.

Work can have a positive impact on an employee’s health and well-being, and healthy and well-motivated employees in turn have a positive impact on the effectiveness of the organisation. It’s therefore completely in our interest to make sure our staff are well looked after, able to continue progressing their career, and feel fulfilled and satisfied by their work. We provide staff with important early years training and additional benefits to thank and reward them for all of their hard work.

Family

We see our team as a family, all committed to Derwent Stepping Stones’ central mission. We strive for good communication, solve problems together and learn from our mistakes as a team. We share the wisdom we learn from experience and use it to grow together. We respect and value each other as individuals and are always willing to go the extra mile to support each other and those in our care.

CPD

All staff have an ongoing early years’ training plan as part of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). We encourage all staff to learn new skills that will help to boost their career and we support them to access any learning and development opportunities. Our partner training providers work with us to take staff from entry level to level 5, and we also provide support to staff aiming for degree level and beyond.

Local People

We aim to support the families in our communities with career opportunities as well as childcare, and 75% of our staff team live within walking distance of their workplace. With the correct early years’ training, our community can enjoy the benefits of receiving and working in childcare. A strong understanding of the communities in which we work is also vitally important to us and this is reflected in our recruitment policies.

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Childcare Discount

Among the benefits of working in childcare at Derwent Stepping Stones are discounts for all staff who have children with places in our settings. The rate of discount from full price is:

  • 20% reduction for first child
  • 15% reduction for second child
  • 10% reduction for third and subsequent children

Discounts are valid during periods of statutory leave.

Flexible Working

We can offer a range of flexible working options to help you maintain your work-life balance and stay motivated and healthy while in your job. What is available can vary with the type of job or the setting you are applying to work in, but examples of options we may be able to provide include term time only, job share, 4 day working week and casual/relief hours. See individual job adverts for details or contact us directly to discuss your personal situation.

Progression

With 13 nursery rooms across 4 settings there are a variety of opportunities for career progression. Our commitment to continued professional development means that we have an organic process of succession planning, identifying and developing talent to fill critical positions in the future. For anyone ready to take the next steps in their career, we will ensure they have the relevant and required childcare and early years’ training to get them where they need to be.