Room Lead - Hillside Children's Centre

The Role

Hackney Education provides a range of services to support the education of children, young people and adults in our inner London borough. Hackney is one of the UK's highest performing local authorities, serving one of London's best places to live and work. Within our diverse borough we serve a wide range of children and young people. We have a particular focus on supporting less advantaged families: Hackney figures in the 10% most deprived boroughs in England on a number of measures.

Hackney Education's key priority is to improve the life chances of every child, young person and learner: making Hackney the most forward looking education system in the UK, where schools, settings and partners provide an exciting environment which ensures inclusion and success for everyone. We see our borough as being one of the best places in the country for young people to grow, learn, develop and achieve -and one of the best places for colleagues to work and thrive in our education system.

Hackney Education is a department within Hackney Council that is responsible for Hackney's children's centres, 27,000 pupils in 75 schools and early years and adult education. Our vision is to provide excellent education for every child, young person and adult learner.

At Hackney Education, we know just how exciting Hackney's future looks. A future that's largely going to be determined by today's younger generation - the very people we're working so hard to help and develop. This will be achieved through Hackney's commitment Children's Centre, including Hillside and Woodberry Down and in partnership with many other exciting local initiatives, we deliver early year's education and integrated services across Hackney and you can help us build on this potential.

Details of the role

Job title: Room Lead, Hillside

Salary: Scale 6, £38,748 to £39,915

Terms and Conditions: Full Time, permanent contract

We are looking to appoint one Room Lead who will have strong leadership and management skills, experience in the room is a requirement. You will be an effective communicator and have very strong organisational skills with a methodical approach to your work. The work involves overseeing and leading the room to ensure high standards of integrated education and care. Your role will be to continually strive towards an 'outstanding' provision in the Centre. Your good interpersonal skills will enable you to work in with various staff and their families.

About Us

You are required to have a qualification in Childcare and Education Level and above. Post qualification experience, including supervisory experience would be desirable. You will be required to work flexible hours as the centre operates a shift system.

Some of the primary duties will include:

Take responsibility for supervising staff within your room; Demonstrate good practice and support colleagues with development of the EYFS; Deployment of staff accordingly; Ensure staff are up to date with special books, planning and any reviews and assessments; Attend room leader meetings and be part of the middle leadership team; Take responsibility as the 'accountable person' for opening and closing the building in absence of the Children's Centre and Early Years Lead and the SCCO; Liaise and work with other professionals such as Health Visitors, Educational Psychologists, Social Workers and Speech Therapists as appropriate, and the Senior Leadership Team when needed.

This is an ideal position for an experienced professional looking to be an integral part of a team within a setting that provides an outstanding personal service to diverse families in the community. Significant professional experience of working within a culturally diverse educational childcare environment is essential. You must have good interpersonal and relationship building skills and possess good assessment skills.

An NVQ3 qualification in childcare or equivalent is essential for this role. You will be required to work flexible hours as the centre operates a shift system.

Closing date: 08 November 2026 (22:59)

Interviews: Wc 23 November 2026

Hackney Education is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. We expect all staff to share this commitment. As this role involves regulated activity, the successful applicant will be required to undertake an enhanced DBS check and additional pre-employment checks in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2022.

Key Accountabilities

We are also working towards our vision, which is to be a place for everyone; where residents and staff can be proud. In order to achieve this, we are seeking individuals who embody our "PROUD" values: Purpose and Respect, where we foster belonging through active inclusion, kindness, and open dialogue; Ownership, where we champion proactive collaboration and accountability for our shared success; and Unity and Diversity, where we work as one Council to break down silos and champion anti-racist behavior.

Hackney Council works to eradicate discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy and maternity, age and marital status. We also recognise that people can be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will also work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class. We also welcome those interested in flexible working. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people and people from a black and ethnic minority background as these groups are currently under represented in our workforce.

DBS check required for this role: Yes