OverviewService Manager - Early Years and Childcare at Swindon Borough Council. Join to apply for the Service Manager - Early Years and Childcare role at Swindon Borough Council.

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Base pay rangeThis is an exciting role within the Education and Inclusion Team, as part of the Prevention and Communities directorate. The Service Manager for Early Years and Childcare undertakes a crucial statutory role to provide sufficient early years and childcare places across the borough, as well as overseeing and supporting the quality of provision and ensuring eligible children are receiving their full entitlement to funded early years education.

Early years and childcare is evidenced as impacting positively across lifespans, and it’s especially important we have a passionate leader to support the delivery and implement the strategic vision for early years and child care settings. You will be an expert in delivering early years and childcare services, have a sound knowledge of the Ofsted regulatory framework and you will take a proactive role in supporting schools through your teams to ensure that all schools fulfil their duties in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2025.

You will be part of the Education and Inclusion wider leadership team and lead your service areas through service delivery, strategic planning and partnership working. You will work across the directorate to support working together practices in line with the Swindon vision and contribute to wider corporate change programmes. You will also play a leading strategic role in developing effective partnership working with stakeholders across the education landscape, in order to raise standards and outcomes for children.

Your next package

Please see our Rewards and Benefits offer for more details.

As an employee, you will receive a diverse and exciting environment in which to work, encouraging creativity and innovation whilst recognising the need to support ongoing personal development and a flexible work life balance.

For Swindon to thrive in the future, we need to lay the foundations now. It’s why our regeneration and transformation programmes are already underway. So, you’ll be joining us at an exciting time on our journey. We’ll look to you to share your knowledge, influence decisions and drive real, positive change. With your contributions, we’ll achieve our vision of a prosperous, revitalised Swindon together. And you’ll be proud to say it was made better with you.

Please see our Vision and Values page for more details.

Please see our new Swindon Plan.

Your next stepsRead the role profile and select the Apply button where you will be redirected to the Swindon Borough Council website to complete our online application process. Clicking the ''Apply'' button on this job website is not an application, you must register on the Swindon Borough Council website in order to be considered for the role.

Potential applicants are sometimes put off if they don’t meet 100% of the requirements. We think individual experience, skills and passion make all the difference, so if you meet the majority of the criteria, we’d love to hear from you.

As an inclusive employer, we welcome applications from a diverse range of communities, and in particular disabled people and people from ethnic minorities. Read our statement of commitment to equality and inclusion.

For further information about the role please contact James Stuart, Head of Quality Education, at JStuart@swindon.gov.uk – James will be happy to have informal discussions with interested candidates the week commencing 8th September 2025.

If you are experiencing technical issues submitting your application please email resourcing@swindon.gov.uk

Responsibilities

Lead service delivery, strategic planning and partnership working across Early Years and Childcare.

Provide sufficient early years and childcare places across the borough and oversee quality of provision.

Ensure eligible children are receiving their funded entitlement to early years education.

Support schools through teams to fulfil duties in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2025.

Lead and develop the Education and Inclusion leadership team; work across the directorate to support collaboration and change programmes.

Develop effective partnerships with stakeholders to raise standards and outcomes for children.

Qualifications

Expert in delivering early years and childcare services.

Sound knowledge of the Ofsted regulatory framework.

Experience in safeguarding and keeping children safe; ability to lead in this area.

Strong leadership, strategic planning and partnership development skills.

Job details

Seniority level: Not Applicable

Employment type: Full-time

Job function: Education

Industries: Government Administration

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