Teaching Assistant

Inspire and transform learning with us. Harris Academy Merton is looking for a Teaching Assistant to support individuals and groups of students to enable access to learning, contributing to the development and maintenance of a purposeful, nurturing learning environment.

About Us

At Harris Academy Merton we promote the ethos ‘’Achievement is Success’’ and believe every student has the right to the highest standard of education so that they can accomplish their aspirations. Our aim is to give every student an educational experience that is enjoyable and holistic so that they develop into responsible, articulate and successful young people.

We combine the traditional values of strong discipline, good manners, respect and pride in appearance with contemporary best practice in teaching and technology. With these core values embedded, we develop our students into confident and capable individuals that have a desire to excel academically and personally now and in the future.

Main Areas of Responsibility

• To supervise and provide particular support for identified students, in 1:1, group or whole class situations, ensuring their safety and access to learning.
• To assist in the development of appropriate resources, schemes of work and teaching strategies, working with the teacher to ensure the provision supports each identified student’s learning needs.
• To assist in evaluating identified students’ progress through agreed assessment activities.
• To provide detailed and regular feedback to teachers on students’ achievement, progress and needs.
• To lead small group sessions and interventions as appropriate.
• To attend to the students’ personal needs where required.
• To support with behaviour management, using appropriate strategies in line with academy policy.
• To contribute to creating a purposeful and supportive learning environment.
• Undertake structured and agreed learning activities/teaching programmes as appropriate, adjusting activities to ensure achievement of learning goals.

Qualifications, Knowledge & Training

• Educated to degree level or equivalent
• Some knowledge of strategies in working with young people with challenging behaviours
• Knowledge of some of the social issues facing students from disadvantaged backgrounds
• Awareness of Health and Safety issues in the workplace.

Experience

• Experience of working directly with young people in an education or training environment, supporting the learning of students.
• Experience of establishing and maintaining positive working relationships with a range of stakeholders, at all levels.
• Experience of managing and being responsible for own workload.

Personal Skills, Abilities & Qualities

• Good literacy and numeracy skills,
• Good interpersonal and communication skills, with an excellent standard of written and spoken English.
• Good administrative and organisational skills.
• Ability to interest, encourage, motivate and engage children
• Ability to work as part of a team; working effectively with people across a wide range of levels and responsibilities.
• Computer literate – must have good ICT skills including a working knowledge of MS packages e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel etc, as well as using and updating records and databases.
• Ability to work using own initiative, exercising good judgement where unsupervised.
• Flexibility of approach to work.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality; having tact and diplomacy where necessary.

Next Steps

If you have any questions about this opportunity, please contact us via e-mail, or call to arrange a conversation.

Before applying, please download the Job Pack for full details on the job responsibilities and person specification. You will need this when completing your application.

Please note: we may hold interviews as and when applications are received and we reserve the right to offer to a candidate prior to the closing date. We only accept applications submitted online via our careers website and which are completed before the closing deadline. With this in mind, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible and advise you check the job information as per the listing on our careers site.

Professional Development & Benefits

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level to senior leadership.

We look for talented individuals who share our vision for creating exceptional places of learning, and are committed to ensuring that every child in London has access to the best possible education.

In addition to the opportunities for career progression, training and development, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes our Harris Allowance, a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme, a Wellbeing Cash Plan and many other benefits.

Safeguarding Notice

The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share in this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, references, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed for all applicants. Before applying, please review our Policy Statement on the Recruitment of Ex-Offenders.

Equal Opportunities

The Harris Federation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates.

As a provider of employment and education, we value the diversity of our staff and students, and all our staff are equally valued and respected. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment for our students and staff.