For nurseries
Nursery recruitment for early years settings
Permanent staff for nurseries, pre-schools and nursery groups across the UK. Matched to your setting rather than forwarded from a database, and priced your way: a flat fee upfront at a reduced rate, or contingent on your candidate signing.
The problem
You are not the only one struggling to fill it
How we help
What we do
Permanent nursery staff
Permanent practitioners, room leaders and managers for early years settings anywhere in the UK. We do not place temps, which means we are never trying to keep someone on our books instead of in your team.
Read moreHow it works
What actually happens between telling us about a vacancy and somebody starting in your room.
Read moreBy role
Hiring for a specific role
How we work
What we hold ourselves to
We tell you when we cannot fill it
On the first call, not after three weeks of silence. That includes saying when the salary sits below the local band, when the hours will not attract a Level 3, and when the reason a post keeps reopening is not a recruitment problem. It costs us briefs. We would rather have your trust than your retainer.
Where our job ends and yours begins
We are a search and matching agency, not a screening service. We do not carry out DBS checks, take up references or verify qualifications, and we will not imply otherwise to win a brief. Safer recruitment is your duty and it stays with you, so everyone we introduce still goes through your own checks. Knowing exactly where that line sits is part of how children stay safe.
The room test comes first
Everybody we place ends up in a room with children in it, and that is the first question we ask about anyone: would we be glad to see them in there on Monday morning? It is why we turn candidates down, including ones we could place somewhere else, and why you are more likely to get three names from us than eight. Three you can genuinely choose between beats eight you have to sift.
Permanent only, and the reason why
An agency with a temp desk earns money for as long as your vacancy stays open, so its interest and yours point in opposite directions. We removed that conflict by not having the desk. The same goes on the other side: nobody here gets nudged towards shifts when what they wanted was a career.
Two ways to pay, both agreed in writing
A flat fee invoiced upfront, at a lower rate because you are sharing the risk with us. Or contingent, where nothing is payable until your chosen candidate signs. Either way the terms are agreed in writing before any work starts, so nothing about the cost arrives as a surprise.
Early years, and nothing else
Early years is the only sector we work in, so we know what an approved Level 3 actually is, what a good two-year-old progress check looks like, and why the baby room is the hardest room in the building to fill. We also know that a village pre-school and a forty-place city nursery need quite different people. Most agencies placing nursery staff also place warehouse and office staff, and it shows the first time somebody sends you a CV that does not count in ratio. We always ask what went wrong last time, because it is usually the most useful thing anybody tells us.
Questions
Before you brief us
Do you place temporary nursery staff?
No, permanent placements only. There is no temp desk here and no bank of cover staff, so if you need somebody for tomorrow morning we are not the right people to call, and we would rather say so straight away than take a brief we cannot do justice to. Permanent appointments are the whole of what we do, from practitioners through to managers.
What areas of the UK do you cover?
The whole of the UK. We are based in Birmingham and know the West Midlands best, but we recruit permanently across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
What qualification do nursery staff need to count in ratio?
An approved Level 3 lets a practitioner be counted at Level 3, which is what most ratio requirements hinge on. Level 2 counts at Level 2. In England every room needs at least one approved Level 3, and at least half the remaining staff at Level 2.
What are the staff to child ratios in England?
Under twos are 1:3, two year olds are 1:5, and over threes are 1:8, or 1:13 where a qualified teacher or Level 6 is working directly with the children. Scotland and Wales operate separate frameworks.
What does a nursery recruitment agency cost?
We offer two structures. A flat fee agreed and invoiced upfront, which is the lower of the two because you are sharing the risk with us rather than leaving it all on our side. Or contingent, where nothing is payable until your chosen candidate signs. Both are agreed in writing before we begin and there is no registration fee. Tell us the role and we will give you both figures straight away.
Get in touch
Tell us about the vacancy
We reply within one working day.