Teaching Assistant

Hours: 37.5 hours per week - Weekdays - 39 weeks per year

Aspris Children’s Services (an independent company which was formally Priory Education and Children’s Services) is one of the UK’s leading independent providers of specialist care and education for a reason. We recruit some of the most committed people in the sector.

If you have experience in SEN and want to make a real difference to lives in an environment that has the needs of the young person at the heart of what we do, you should join us. We need dedicated, skilled and experienced staff. We offer a bespoke training programme and like minded colleagues that want to improve the lives of the young people as well as develop their personal expertise and experience with such complex needs.

In place is new local leadership that brings experience and recognition of the challenges and pressures that other establishments in SEN face. We enable staff to bring their skills, ideas and creativity to the school to contribute to the ethos and shared values.

Devon Childrens' Services is made up of two schools, Quay View School (Bere Alston) and Tor View School (Tavistock) and four children's homes based in Tavistock, Gunnislake and Okehampton. We specialise in care and education of children and young people aged 7-19 with autism, learning difficulties, challenging behaviour and SEMH. The safeguarding and wellbeing of our young people who may have experienced challenges in their lives is always paramount; along with encouragement to achieve their full potential.

Your day to day duties would involve:

• Working with the class teacher, assisting the children with their work and supporting with pupil behaviour
• Establishing good relationships with pupils, acting as a role model and responding to individual needs
• Encouraging pupils to interact with others and engage in activities
• Helping to plan lessons by preparing materials and resources

Key Skills Required

• Experience of working with social/emotional difficulties and/or challenging behaviour
• Ability to work independently or as part of a team
• Ability to adapt the support required to meet the needs of individual students to positively impact on progress in learning
• Effective communication skills, verbal and written including basic ICT skills
• Ability to demonstrate a high degree of emotional resilience
• Ability to remain calm under pressure.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all our employees to share in this commitment.

Having experience as a Teaching Assistant would be beneficial, but as long as you have the communication and caring skills required for this role, we will give you all the training and development you need to succeed.

A clean driving licence and own transport is essential due to the location of the school.

Aspris is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.  All applicants must be willing to undergo safeguarding screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure & Barring Service.

What do you get in return?

• A generous salary
• Being part of a company that invests in you and your team for personal and professional development
• Reward and discount schemes
• Pension
• Enhanced DBS fee paid
• Access to a holiday package
• Cycle to work scheme
• Wellbeing support

Please note, we reserve the right to close the vacancy early should we receive a significant number of suitable applications.

References

For all roles we require a minimum of two references.  References provided must cover the last 3 years, for all of our services we will need to request all references from where you have worked with either Children or Vulnerable Adults. Please be advised that references may be requested prior to interview for roles within our schools.

About us

Our UK specialist schools, colleges, children’s homes and fostering agency provide the highest standards of support to children with a range of needs. This includes autism, learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) difficulties and supporting some of society’s most vulnerable children. With a large national footprint, as well as education services in the Middle East, this also offers significant and exciting development and progression opportunities for our staff.

Disclosure

Aspris Education & Children's Services is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. All applicants must be willing to undergo safeguarding screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and disclosures with the relevant body at an enhanced level. We are an equal opportunities employer. Aspris Education and Children's services will cover the cost of a DBS.