Assistant Head Teacher

Assistant Head Teacher

Team: Education and Teaching

Location: Mitcham, Surrey

Salary: £59,380- £62,066 + excellent benefits

Contract Type: Permanent

Position Type: Full Time

Interview Date: Wednesday, 28 June 2023

Closing date: Friday, 23 June 2023, 23:59

Those Huge Small Victories

Our Assistant Head Teachers are fulfilled by the idea of making even the smallest positive changes in our young people, so we celebrate the little things. There’s lots of ups and downs, and to some of our young people, sitting through a lesson can be a big win. We call these huge small victories and whilst they may seem small on the surface, they add up to make a big difference

Get out what you put in

You’ll be working with children and young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder/Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. Alongside the Head Teacher, you’ll set the vision for the future of the school, ensuring we have the right people and plans in place to see that our young people leave feeling proud of what they’ve achieved. You will need to be resilient and dedicated, but those huge small victories that you achieve will be something you’re really proud of.

It can be a tough journey, but the positive steps forward will more than make up for it. As an Assistant Head Teacher at Witherslack Group, you’ll get all the support you need to succeed, from the broader management team, to a range of supporting specialists. Your colleagues will be the best at what they do, the school environments will be well-resourced and we’ll be with you every step of the way, helping you build a rewarding teaching career.

One of the best environments in SEND

Lavender Lodge school resides within an 18th Century building in the heart of Mitcham. Our pupils come from many different boroughs to attend our school and are lucky to experience ‘a life changing love of learning.’ We are proud of our pupils and our dedicated team and pupils leave us with a sense of achievement. We were recently recognised as Good by Ofsted.

Skill set requirements –

• Must have worked with pupils who are autistic and have previous experience of this
• Needs to be able to communicate in a variety of ways as 70% of our pupils are non-verbal e.g. can use Makaton, picture display symbols – we use PEC’s and PODD, have experience working with non -verbal pupils
• Have worked with pupils who display challenging behaviour but would have the will and desire to support pupils to manage their behaviour and also for you to work to understand the function of the behaviour
• Be flexible to work with pupils from 4 through to 11 years old
• Be able to think outside the box in regards to delivering lessons. We have lots of tools to help support this, but our pupils need a bespoke and accessible curriculum

Have an awareness of autism strategies such as TEACCH, attention autism and use of PODD and be able to use these in practise

What we do for you

We know you’re going to do great things. For your hard work and commitment, we reward you with the best salary and benefits package in the education sector. With us, you’ll get to bring learning to life and make a genuine difference to the lives of our young people – plus you’ll get:

• Training: A full induction and on the job training
• Holiday: You’ll work hard at WG, so you’ll be rewarded with full school holidays
• Progression: If career development is your thing, most of our head teachers have been promoted from within our group
• Flexible benefits: meaning you can increase/decrease benefits such as life insurance – check out our benefits here
• Teacher pension scheme or a range of flexible pension options to suit personal circumstances (where applicable)
• Wellbeing: a host of wellbeing tools and advice including employee assistance
• Medical cover so you can claim back the cost of things like an opticians or dentist appointment and a host of high-street discounts
• Beautiful working environments with the very best facilities – check out our schools here
• A recommend a friend scheme that offers a £2,000 bonus every time
• We strongly believe that people should have choice and flexibility when it comes to saving for the future. As such we offer membership of the Teachers Pensions Scheme if you are eligible to join. We also offer a flexible alternative option to the Teachers Pension Scheme that allows you to opt out and receive an allowance of 15% of your base salary and free life insurance. If you take this option you are also able to join our Scottish Widows Group Pension Scheme where your employee contributions are matched up to 5%.

Bring your whole-self to work

Our young people come from all walks of life, diverse backgrounds and with different needs – and our workforce reflects that diversity, so that our teams can engage, encourage and inspire our young people to be themselves. You’ll be more than an Assistant Head Teacher, you’ll be able to connect with our pupils because of:

• You’ll need previous teaching experience and have Qualified Teacher Status
• You’ll also need leadership and management experience
• Your drive to raise the quality of teaching and learning
• Your understanding of what good behaviors for learning look like
• Your effective leadership and coaching skills
• Your knowledge of how best to use your interpersonal skills to develop a strong staff team 

Interested in joining us?

Our young people deserve the best possible future and we feel the same about our teams. You deserve to have the career you want, with a purpose-led employer, in an environment that allows you to be yourself.

The Witherslack Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of its young people. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check (we will cover the cost) and an online search. We are an equal opportunities employer welcoming applications from all sections of the community.