As a nursery assistant you pride yourself on your caring nature. So, are you taking the same care with your career? A well-written nursery assistant cover letter is an essential step in doing just that.
It’s an interesting time for childcare in the UK. While certain nursery chains are seeing incredible expansion, many others are seeing closures. One thing is for sure. Dream job positions as a nursery assistant are becoming steadily more competitive.
At Resume.io, we want to make sure you communicate your professional worth with a compelling job application. One of the most important parts of setting yourself up for success as a nursery assistant is a well-written nursery assistant cover letter.
In this cover letter guide, along with the corresponding nursery assistant cover letter example, we’ll cover the following topics to help you write the best cover letter possible:
- How to choose the best cover letter format and what paragraphs the cover letter should include
- How to maximise the effect of each cover letter paragraph (header, greeting, intro, body and conclusion)
- What approach to take when writing your cover letter
- What mistakes to avoid when writing your nursery assistant cover letter.
Check out our library of cover letter examples for further inspiration on setting yourself apart as a top nursery assistant candidate.
If you’re looking for additional inspiration for cover letter writing, you can check out our related cover letter examples:
Best format for a nursery assistant cover letter
Your nursery assistant cover letter should look the part from the word go. That means that it needs to follow the right structure. The format of a nursery assistant cover letter should contain the following elements:
- The cover letter header
- The greeting / salutation
- The cover letter intro
- The middle paragraphs (body of the letter)
- The ending paragraph of your cover letter (conclusion and call-to-action)
Dear Mr Barnes,
As a nursery assistant who has worked for several years in both creches and nurseries, I am confident that my experience would be an excellent fit for your advertised position at Little Ducks Nursery. My passion for child-led learning means I believe this would also be a match in terms of our shared approach to child development.
I began my career as an assistant at a small childminding business. In this role, I was responsible for assisting my boss in all day-to-day tasks, from basic childcare to keeping in touch with parents. Here I gained an understanding of how to come up with age-appropriate activities and gained my first paediatric first aid certification.
From here I gained my first role in a creche setting. After a few months of consistently excellent feedback from parents, I was promoted to childcare assistant in the company’s larger nursery.
I have spent several years in this role. During my time here I have gained several certifications in early childhood development. I have also led initiatives in improving the classroom layout to improve the autonomy of our toddlers in accessing age-appropriate toys and activities to encourage child-led learning.
Since I began in my current position, we have seen the average duration of time that children spend under our care double from 12 months to 24 months. Additionally, our management has observed an increase in the enrollment of younger siblings into our facility.
I would love to bring this dedication to the nursery assistant role at Little Ducks Nursery and continue a career focused on child-led learning. I hope to be able to discuss my application with you in an interview.
Sincerely,
Gemma Rhodes
Cover letter header
The cover letter header is the place to put all of the most important information that the hiring manager would need if they want to invite you for an interview. Make sure your name is clearly legible at the top of your cover letter document.
The cover letter header should also include your contact information, such as email address and phone number. Make it super easy for the hiring manager to do what you want them to do — call you back!
Design matters
Just like the kids you care for might be attracted to the brightest, shiniest of toys, the hiring manager will have a visual preference, too. For your cover letter, a clear, polished, and professional design is important to visually communicate the type of nursery assistant that you are. So there will be no skimping on the design of your nursery assistant cover letter!
Cover letter greeting
Just like you want the little ones under your care to have nice manners, you want to set the right tone with your cover letter greeting. Remember that your cover letter is a formal document, so you should start with the formal greeting “Dear (insert hiring manager’s name)”.
However, formal doesn’t mean that you can’t be friendly. Take a few extra minutes to find out the name of the hiring manager and address them and “Mr/Mrs (last name)”. Polite and friendly is exactly the attitude you want to exude as a nursery assistant!
If you really struggle to find the name of the hiring manager on LinkedIn, the company website, or elsewhere, then “Dear hiring manager” could suffice. However, avoid the “To whom it may concern” trope, at all costs.
Cover letter introduction
Do you know how the kids in your care pay better attention when you make an effort to be engaging and speak with enthusiasm? You earn the attention of the hiring manager in the same way. Well, almost in the same way. The cover letter introduction should be short and capture their attention with just the most impressive points that will convince them to keep reading your cover letter.
Think about the keywords that you can tell are important to the job role from your understanding of the job description. Remember to include those when they are relevant to your profile. Are you DBS-checked? Have you got any certifications for your work? Depending on what the employer is asking for, these are all points that you can consider including in your opening paragraph.
Dear Mr Barnes,
As a nursery assistant who has worked for several years in both creches and nurseries, I am confident that my experience would be an excellent fit for your advertised position at Little Ducks Nursery. My passion for child-led learning means I believe this would also be a match in terms of our shared approach to child development.
Cover letter middle part (body)
The middle paragraphs of cover letters are where you can really get into the details of why the hiring manager should trust you with the most precious of clients. Aim to break down your most impressive achievements as a nursery assistant and the skills or experience that make you ideal for this role in particular.
I began my career as an assistant at a small childminding business. In this role, I was responsible for assisting my boss in all day-to-day tasks, from basic childcare to keeping in touch with parents. Here I gained an understanding of how to come up with age-appropriate activities and gained my first paediatric first aid certification.
From here I gained my first role in a creche setting. After a few months of consistently excellent feedback from parents, I was promoted to childcare assistant in the company’s larger nursery.
I have spent several years in this role. During my time here I have gained several certifications in early childhood development. I have also led initiatives in improving the classroom layout to improve the autonomy of our toddlers in accessing age-appropriate toys and activities to encourage child-led learning.
Since I began in my current position, we have seen the average duration of time that children spend under our care double from 12 months to 24 months. Additionally, our management has observed an increase in the enrollment of younger siblings into our facility.
Keep it short and sweet
A hiring manager’s attention span may exceed that of the children you look after. However, don’t push your luck. Your cover letter should be one-page maximum to allow for maximum engagement. Keep them curious enough to ask for more and invite you to interview!
In the three or so paragraphs of your cover letter, offer enough details on these types of examples to let the hiring manager know how you have their desired skill set. Find illustrative examples to paint a picture for them. Have you helped to improve the rating of a nursery you work at? Tell that story in as concise of a way as possible, focusing on the difference that you made to the team.
Perhaps you are particularly skilled at working with children of a certain age or with specific needs? If it’s relevant to the job listing, this is another great source of inspiration for what you can write about in your cover letter.
Does it pass the relevancy test?
When choosing what to write about, remember to ask yourself if the example you’ve chosen adds to the picture you’re painting of the perfect fit for this particular role. Try not to go off on a tangent. Really listen to what the hiring manager is looking for by reading the job description several times before you start writing your own cover letter.
A great way to keep your chosen examples as concise as possible is to use the STAR method. This is an acronym on how to include the most important details of a story without including too much or too little information. STAR stands for:
- Situation: Give the hiring manager a little context to start off your story.
- Task: What was the thing that you had to do or the problem that you had to solve?
- Action: Focus on what you personally did or contributed to the given situation.This ties the responsibility for the results more directly to you and your skills.
- Results: Finally, talk about the results that this yielded.
Take a look at the cover letter sample content below for more inspiration on what you could write in your own nursery assistant cover letter.
How to close a nursery assistant cover letter (conclusion and sign-off)
The conclusion to your nursery assistant cover letter should also be to the point. Now that you’ve made your case, remind the hiring manager that you’d love to meet them and answer any questions they have in an interview. Finally, sign off the letter with the simple salutation “Sincerely” followed by your full name. Now all that’s left to do is wait to see if they’ll call!
I would love to bring this dedication to the nursery assistant role at Little Ducks Nursery and continue a career focused on child-led learning. I hope to be able to discuss my application with you in an interview.
Sincerely,
Gemma Rhodes
Will your cover letter stand the test of the ATS?
ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System. This is a software used by many companies to filter only the best applications to be sent to the hiring manager. That means that to be in with a chance of your cover letter impressing a human pair of eyes, it needs to impress the ATS algorithm first.
You can achieve this by making sure your cover letter includes the use of the most important keywords in the job description and responsibilities. If the job ad asks for a “Childcare assistant” rather than a “nursery assistant”, adjust your language accordingly. Repeat on any other important keywords and terms you include in your cover letter.
Nursery assistant cover letter with no experience
All great nursery assistants start from somewhere. Your case is no different, so don’t be discouraged if you are on the lookout for your first nursery assistant job. The trick with entering any sector is to focus on the transferable skills that you have gained in previous roles. Leverage them to position yourself as a valuable asset.
Try to find examples to talk about in your cover letter that reflect the abilities you will need as a nursery assistant. If you have any qualifications in childcare or early development, this is a great place to highlight that. You could also pull on volunteering experience and babysitting jobs you may have had in the past.
Don’t forget the power of leaning into your soft skills. There are many technical skills that are needed when working with children. However, as a nursery assistant, you will also be just as reliant on your soft skills. That means your communication skills, problem solving, and even negotiation skills. Have you ever tried negotiating with a two-year-old? It’s no easy task.
Think about times at school, in extracurricular activities, or in previous jobs where you have shown many of these essential skills. While you may need to rely on them to make your cover letter stand out for now, once you’ve landed that tricky first-ever nursery assistant role, you’ll have more illustrative examples of your technical skills when you apply for your next job.
Developing your nursery assistant career
The resources available from national non-profit the National Day Nurseries Association could be a great place to look if you are interested in starting or developing your career as a nursery assistant.
It could even be a good idea to get in touch with your local nursery and introduce yourself. Nursery assistants and other professionals may be busy, but many of them are extremely friendly. They might be able to give you more information on any qualifications they expect from their employees so that you can set yourself up for success.
Key takeaways
- In this competitive industry, it’s more important than ever to write a strong cover letter for a nursery assistant vacancy.
- Grab the hiring manager’s attention with an engaging cover letter opening.
- Don’t be afraid to use cover letter samples in other industries to get inspiration on making yourself how you can stand out..
- If this will be your first job as a nursery assistant, lean on your transferable skills and your soft skills to make the best impression.
Don’t forget that cover letter templates are an option if you want to skip the design step. We have a selection that will suit different styles and tones, so you can rest assured that your visual communication is up to scratch.
