Manager, Junior Kindergarten nature-based program (Northriver)

Required Experience:

• Acting as manager on license for a licensed child care program in BC (or Canada).
• 2 years experience working within a licensed child care program in BC (or Canada)
• Proven experience working within external agencies/partners, such as Supported Child Care, school principals, classroom teachers, PACE, etc
• Proven experience mentoring new educators within an ECE environment
• Proven experience working collaboratively with parents in an ECE environment

Key Responsibilities:

Who we are looking for:

You have excellent communication skills and are able to facilitate calm and reflective conversations (including team meetings) with parents, teachers, support staff and external agencies.

You are comfortable working in an inclusive environment, and understand the need to balance individual child needs with group safety within a legal-rationed environment.  You are comfortable reaching out for support and following SSOCC's needs supports policy to secure adequate support for children with additional support needs.

You love being outside, own a good quality rain jacket and boots, and are excited about the learning opportunities that come with being outside from 2 - 9 hours a day, including being outside and "offsite", away from inside-classroom access.

You will have expert knowledge of the BC Early Learning Framework, Child Care Licensing Regulations and Act, child development and learning and Trauma Informed Practice. Additionally, you will have expert knowledge of emergent curriculum, current theories of pedagogy and child development in social-emotional learning, rights-based discourse, project-based learning and experience with pedagogical narration.  You will have training in Tools of the Mind, MindUp, RULER or other current programs support social-emotional development in the early years. 

You are responsible to mentor the Centre’s employees as well as the Centre practice to meet or exceed recognized assessment standards. You will also contribute to the professional identity of the Centre, raising the quality of the education program and practice.

You will coach and supervise the room’s Education team to deepen their collective understanding of curriculum and pedagogy and to embed a culture of ongoing reflective practice. You will support Trauma Informed Practice through pedagogical strategies in the classroom. 

Salary & Benefits:

Hourly base wage $ 33.09 /hr (including $6/hr Wage Enhancement).  Please note that the majority of work hours are on-the-floor, in-ratio with the children.

This position is given .5 hours / week per full time registered child, for Administration time. Anticipated registration/enrollment in September 2025/2026 - 16 students (equivalent to 8 hours admin time per week). Please note that administration hours are paid at a wage of 37.93 / hr (including $6/hr Wage Enhancement).  Administration hours are non-ratio hours, but occur on-site and are not remote hours.  

Extended health and dental benefits, professional development days (4 per school year), up to 9 days sick leave (pro-rated to FTE) and 7% vacation provided as per SSOCC collective contract.

SSOCC full time positions are typically 4 days per week, and it is up to the Junior Kindergarten Manager to set the roster, but most managers will work 3 long-days (8:00 - 5:30) and then one admin day (estimated 8 hours), totalling 36.5 hours per week.  SSOCC works with averaging agreements, this position is able to pick up extra shifts on the 5th day of the week if desired, as long as total work hours within a 4 week period do not exceed 160 hours. 

Additional Notes:

SSOCC's Northriver Junior Kindergarten program operates in Richmond at Tait Elementary School.  Program hours run 8:00 - 5:30, and the manager must be available to work shifts within these hours, Monday-Friday.

Opportunities:

• In the spring, this location had a classroom re-stock to fully support a strong fine-arts atelier-like classroom.
• NorthRiver works closely with our part-time inclusion coordinator to provide parent support and teacher training to best support children with additional needs
• Within walking distance to local parks and playgrounds; Richmond dyke trail
• Potential to hire own teaching team (depending on hire-date of this position)
• Involved parent community, including regular parent participation through mandatory and optional volunteer hours
• School district commitment to support continued and long-term operation at this location
• As a nature-based program, you will regularly spend 2-4 hours outside daily, in all weather.  During the spring and summer, this program operates 2-3 days "offsite" - which means you will operate at a community park for the entire day, adhering to best practices for outdoor-operation standards.  This is an excellent opportunity for someone passionate about nature, the outdoors, and participating in the outdoor community spaces around us.

Challenges:

• This location is currently a 10/day location, however we anticipate this location will be leaving the 10/day program in March 2026.  As such, we anticipate a significant, temporary reduction in registration for April 2026.  

SSOCC's goals for this program:

Northriver has faced numerous challenges as a new program in an under-served, lower-income area of Richmond.  There is current operational stability, and our hopes for 2025-2026 are to build a strong and caring community that comes together to support joyful and creative nature-based learning, focusing on project-based learning and sharing traces/artefacts and documentation with children and parents.