Learning Support Assistant

We are keen to appoint a Learning Support Assistant to work in HARP (Hendon Autism Resource Provision).          HARP opened in September 2008 as Barnet’s first resourced Provision to support students with Autism Spectrum conditions in a mainstream secondary school.  We provide a safe Autism-friendly space and base for twenty students from Year 7 – Year 13 and, for each individual, the appropriate level of ‘scaffolding’ to enable him/her to thrive at Hendon and in the wider community.  In HARP we aim to ensure that students feel safe, understood, content and valued while simultaneously developing the desire, skills and resilience to be part of a neurotypical (ie. Non-Autistic) world; we aim to bridge the divide between the perceptions, cognitive style, motivation and experiences of our students and the demands of school and wider society.  The role of the Teaching Assistant of an individual with Autism has been likened to that of a cross-cultural interpreter; someone who understands both cultures and can convey information effectively in an accessible manner and to translate to students the expectations of the neurotypical world.  Teaching Assistants accompany students to classes with their mainstream peers and, within HARP, support in Personal and Social Skills sessions,  provide pre- and post-  tutoring and  implement Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy.      Experience of working with students with Asperger’s or students from the autistic spectrum an advantage but not essential