Nursery Practitioner
Permanent nursery nurse jobs
The Level 3 role at the heart of every nursery. Key person to a group of children, responsible for their day, their development records and their families.
£27,000 to £30,500 outside London
Guide band for 2026. See how we work these out.
Nursery nurse is the title most people search for and the one most settings have stopped printing on the advert. The same job gets posted as Nursery Practitioner or Early Years Practitioner. The qualification, the ratio and the pay are identical.
What the role involves
- Acting as key person to a group of children, and being their family's first point of contact
- Planning and running activities across the EYFS areas of learning
- Keeping observation and development records, and noticing where a child needs more support
- Personal care, mealtimes, sleep routines and everything else a day actually contains
- Safeguarding: knowing the setting's procedures and being willing to use them
- Counting in ratio at Level 3, which is what most rooms are built around
What you will need
- An approved Level 3 in early years, or Level 2 with Level 3 in progress
- An enhanced DBS on the update service, or willingness to apply for one
- Paediatric first aid, or a setting willing to fund it
- Genuine warmth with children, which cannot be trained and shows within ten minutes
- A reason for wanting a permanent role rather than agency shifts
Also advertised as: Nursery Practitioner, Early Years Practitioner, Level 3 Practitioner. Settings use these titles more or less interchangeably, so search for all of them.
Where
Where we recruit this role
We place nursery nurse roles across the UK. These are the areas we cover most closely.
Questions
About this role
What does a nursery nurse earn?
Our 2026 guide puts this role at £27,000 to £30,500 outside London. Bands assume a 40-hour week and are built from the National Living Wage floor and the published sector median. The full method is on our salary guide.
Is this a permanent role?
Every role we place is permanent. Tiny Tots Recruitment does not run a temp desk and does not offer agency shifts.
What else is this job called?
You will also see it advertised as Nursery Practitioner, Early Years Practitioner, Level 3 Practitioner. The qualification and the ratio requirements are the same whichever title a setting uses.
Related
Other roles we recruit
Early Years Practitioner
The professional title for the job most people call nursery nurse. Level 2 and Level 3 both count in ratio, but not for the same things.
£27,000 to £30,500 at Level 3, outside London
About this roleRoom Leader
Running a room: the children in it, the staff in it, the ratio, the planning and the parents. The first genuinely managerial job in a nursery.
£29,000 to £33,500 outside London
About this roleNursery Assistant
The way into the sector. Level 2 or unqualified, working alongside practitioners, with most settings willing to fund your Level 3.
£26,400 to £28,000 outside London
About this roleLooking for a nursery nurse role?
Register once and we will come to you when something fits. You will know the setting, the room and the pay before you decide whether to meet them, and your CV goes nowhere without your say-so.