Learning Support Assistant

Learning Support Assistant (LSA)

Location: Barnet, North London

Salary: from £23,466 to £26,000 FTE 

This post is term time only, 39 weeks, 37.5 hours per week during the term time.

Hours: 8am - 4pm

Start date: 1 September 2023

The Role

We are looking for an exceptional Learning Support Assistant to join our inclusion team. If you have high expectations of all children and are looking for an opportunity to make your mark in a school that has already made a huge transformation and continues to do so, this is the perfect opportunity for you.

The objectives of a Learning Support Assistant will differ according to the individual requirements of each student. Their overall function is to support students’ diverse Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) through the academic, personal and behavioural elements of school life.

This position provides the ideal opportunity for an ambitious and dynamic Learning Support Assistant with vision to help shape an ethos of care, respect, high achievement and challenge. The recent Ofsted inspection in March 2019 graded the school ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ in the effectiveness of leadership and the behaviour, personal development and welfare of students. The final report included the following comments about the school:

A harmonious and peaceful learning environment

Every parent who was surveyed said that they would recommend the school

The behaviour of pupils is outstanding

The school is led by an inspirational principal supported by a strong and effective leadership team

Since 2016, results have increased dramatically from 39% to 76% of students gaining 5+ good passes including English and Maths. Our progress 8 score has improved from -0.45 to +0.6 means we are now in the top 10% of schools nationally. We have also seen an increase in student numbers enrolled in Year 7 from 72 to 180.

As a Learning Support Assistant (LSA), you will support students on a 1:1 and group basis both in and outside of the classroom. This support will be within the four areas of SEND: Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction; Sensory and Physical; Social, Emotional and Mental Health. You will work closely with teachers to plan the support according to students’ needs in the classroom. You will also run intervention sessions as needed, liaising with the SENDCo, students, and parents to plan, run, and evaluate these effectively.

Working as an LSA will mean that you work closely with some of our most vulnerable students. LSA support must ensure that students are challenged and given scaffolds as needed. LSAs are expected to build student independence by moving around the room and working with a range of students. They also work with the teacher to develop learning support strategies for the specific subject. The support will follow the whole-school teaching and learning strategies and training is given on these.

To succeed in this role, you should have English and Maths grade 5 (or A to C or equivalent), be passionate about students’ success and well-being. You should be a team player and be able to communicate at all levels within the Academy including students, parents and staff. 

At The Totteridge Academy we believe that the best teachers and leaders are continuously striving to improve through our belief in the principle of ‘kaizen’ (continuous improvement). We are committed to developing our people and, as part of the largest group of academies and independent schools in the country, United Learning, we offer unrivalled professional development and career progression.

This is an exciting time to join The Totteridge Academy; if you share our high expectations and are passionate about making a difference, we look forward to receiving your application.

 The Totteridge Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all who work at the school to share this commitment. Successful applicants will be subject to an enhanced disclosure through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) along with other required pre-employment checks in accordance with KCSIE 2021.

 About You

At The Totteridge Academy we believe that the best teachers and leaders are continuously striving to improve through our belief in the principle of ‘kaizen’ (continuous improvement). We are committed to developing our people and, as part of the largest group of academies and independent schools in the country, United Learning, we offer unrivalled professional development and career progression.

This is an exciting time to join The Totteridge Academy; if you share our high expectations and are passionate about making a difference, we look forward to receiving your application.

United Learning

Totteridge Academy is part of United Learning, a large, and growing, group of schools aiming to offer a life changing education to children and young people across England.

Our schools work as a team and achieve more by sharing than any single school could. Our subject specialists, our Group-wide intranet, our own curriculum and our online learning portal all help us share knowledge and resource, helping to simplify work processes and manage workloads for an improved work-life balance.

As a Group, we can reward our staff better: with good career opportunities, better pay, benefits, and ultimately, the satisfaction of helping children to succeed. We invest in our staff wellbeing. Our academies each have at least eight INSET days per year (with three of those solely dedicated to planning), and an ongoing group-wide wellbeing programme. It's an ethos we call ‘the best in everyone’.

We are working hard to become a more diverse organisation – which is key to our commitment to bringing out the best in everyone. We welcome applications from everyone committed to this ethos and would particularly welcome applications from black and minority ethnic candidates, who are currently under-represented in the Group as a whole. We always appoint on merit. We are open to discussing flexible working options.